I can‘t remember where I found the entry „well-brethed“ on my many Google search explorations but I was delighted when I did. What a great way to describe breathing well.
Well-brethed meant breathing well, with strong lungs
Best-brethed: with the strongest breath, the best lungs
and
Well-wynded: with good lungs
and, of course,
Best-wynded: with the strongest breath, the best lungs
I love the past participle form, implying that this is something that happens to me, I am „well breathed“, breath moves through me; I am „well winded“, palpable air movement happens inside of me.
Being moved by breath is a much more accurate definition of breathing than „I breathe“, meaning that I do something with air. In comparison to the Early Middle English „well-brethed“, „I breathe“, could even be interpreted as a misunderstanding of the physiological facts.
I’m a huge fan of etymology and linguistics which help us to understand the meaning of words in the context in which they are used. And I’m grateful to Prof. Dr. Hans Sauer and his labours in researching the nominal compounds in Early Middle English. It is in his publication „Nominalkomposita im Frühmittelenglischen: Mit Ausblicken auf die Geschichte“ (“Nominal compounds in Early Middle English: In respect to history”) that I found the term “well-brethed”.