>Magda,
The only Old English word I could find is "sucan" = to suck, as in "tha
breost sucan" - to suck the breast (another word for breast is "titt",
interestingly enough). I suspect that Middle English is pretty much the
same.<

Natalie -- thanks for the info! My husband had looked up 'suckle' in our
Oxford English Dictionary (he thought of it himself -- obviously learned
something from me in the last 15 years).  He says the OED says it is first
recorded in early 14th century (wouldn't this make it middle english?  If
not used before but unrecorded).  We then had a surreal conversation in
which I suddenly remembered that there must be something about Grendel's
mother -- I could swear there was something about her giving Grendel milk --
and we had to explain to our listening son about Beowulf, and my husband
said that he thought the poem just says something like 'give the breast' --
then we realised that we were both SO SAD to be able to remember stuff about
Grendel's mother in such detail.....anyway the upshot is that we wondered if
something like 'give the breast' (or tit) might in fact be what they said,
which I actually rather like (the baby suckles/tha breost sucan).

So, breastgiving and breastfeeding.

Magda Sachs
Breastgiving Supporter, B(g)N, UK
ps I rather fancy a t-shirt that says 'tha breost sucan'.
pps my husband learned the anglo-saxon terms for male and female genitals as
the normal words when growing up in working-class Birmingham in the 50's.  I
have always rather envied this ease with these pithy and 'spade' like words.

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