Etymologically
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wæter

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Pronunciation

Forms

wæter n (strong a-stem; genitive singular wætres, nominative plural wætru)[1] Vespasian Psalter gloss (Mercian): weter.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *watar, from Proto-Germanic *watōr (“water”), from Proto-Indo-European *wédōr, the collective of Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥ (“water”).[1] The Germanic cognates are Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐍄𐍉 (watō), Old Norse vatn, Old Frisian weter, Old Saxon watar and Old High German wazzar.[3][4][5]

It was an /r/~/n/ noun: the West Germanic forms keep the /r/, Gothic and Norse the /n/.[4][3] Orel compares Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (hýdōr), Old Irish uisce and Lithuanian vanduo.[4] Kroonen reconstructs the Proto-Germanic genitive as *watenaz, from an o-grade *uód-ōr, and finds a trace of the e-grade in Swedish lake names.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the mid-ninth-century gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, in the Mercian form weter: ðeostre weter in wolcnum lyfte, "dark water in the clouds of the air", over Latin “tenebrosa aqua in nubibus aeris” in Psalm 17.[6][7] The Pastoral Care of 890×897 has the shepherds who trouble the sheep's wæter with their feet.[8][7]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller begin with water as a substance and one of the four elements, then water for drinking and rain, and then a body of water, a river, lake or sea.[9] In Beowulf it can also mean the sea.[10] In the laws it is the water as opposed to the land, water beside woodland as a resource, drink, and the holy water of the ordeal.[11] The word is neuter, with a few feminine and masculine examples.[9][12]

The word lived on as Middle English water, recorded from the Ormulum, now English water.[13][14]

Timeline

  • s. ix med. – ðeostre weter “dark water” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.[6][7]
  • 890×897 – hluter wæter “clear water” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).[8][7]
  • s. ix/x – the water that left the Danish ships aground, in the Parker Chronicle for 897.[15][7]
  • c. 1175 – Middle English waterr in the Ormulum.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. water as a substance and element.[9][5]
  2. water for drinking; rain.[9]
  3. a body of water, a river, lake or the sea.[9][10]

Word family

  • wæterian
  • wæterādl
  • wæterfæt
  • wæterscipe
  • wætersēoc
  • wæterstrēam
  • reġnwæter

Descendants

  • Middle English water (→ English water; English watter; English wetter)[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.88
  3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 575
  4. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 451
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wæter
  6. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 329
  7. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
  8. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
  9. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1160
  10. ^ a b Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. wæter
  11. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 235
  12. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 740
  13. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  15. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 83