In English, the Latin past participle stem penetrat- produced the verb penetrate, but the word is not attested until 1530. English also had the verb penetre, which would be similar to the Anglo-Norman/French penetrer; however, it is very rare and once more not attested in medieval times. In Continental French, the verb is attested from 1314, which would still make this Anglo-Norman instance (from the late thirteenth century) the earliest vernacular witness. Unfortunately, the text (or at least the transcription of it) seems ambiguous, and the variant reading penez is the verb one would expect here (cf. peiner¹).