wealdan

Forms

wealdan (strong class 7; third-person singular present wielt, past singular wēold, past plural wēoldon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *waldan, from Proto-Germanic *waldaną (“to rule”).^[1][2] The Proto-Germanic verb survives across the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌳𐌰𐌽 (waldan), Old Norse valda, Old Frisian walda, Old Saxon waldan and Old High German waltan.^[2][3][4] The Old Norse verb has the past tense olla, which Holthausen and Kroonen both cite.^[4][2]

Outside Germanic, Holthausen compares Lithuanian valdýti (“to rule”), Latin valeō (“to be strong”) and Old Irish flaith (“sovereignty”), and Köbler traces the verb to a root meaning "to be strong" (Pokorny 1111).^[4][5] Kroonen sets up the root as Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- and takes the present, with its o-grade, to be a back-formation from the preterite, with the dental suffix added within Germanic; he regards the Baltic and Slavic verbs with a dental as possibly borrowed from Germanic.^[2] Orel, on the other hand, connects the Germanic verb directly with the Lithuanian and Slavic verbs for "to possess, to rule".^[3]

West Saxon has ⟨ea⟩ in this verb (⟨wealdan⟩), Mercian ⟨a⟩ (⟨waldan⟩).^[6] It is a strong verb of the seventh (reduplicating) class, with the past tense wēold.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Mercian gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, added in the middle of the ninth century, where allra fienda his waldeð "he will rule over all his enemies" glosses the Latin dominabitur of Psalm 9.^[9][10] The form shows the Mercian ⟨a⟩ for West Saxon ⟨ea⟩.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller arrange the senses from the control of something that moves, such as wielding a weapon or steering, through the rule of a person in authority over people and lands, to the possession of things; the verb takes a genitive, a dative or instrumental, or an accusative object.^[8] In Boethius the axle "controls" the whole wagon (Sió eax welt ealles ðæs wǽnes).^[8] Clark Hall adds the senses "determine, direct" and "cause, bring about".^[11] In the laws it can mean "to arrange matters so" or "to decide": the king may choose one of three penalties (Wealde se cyning þreóra ǽnes).^[12][8] In Beowulf it is used of ruling the Geats and of wielding weapons, and gif hē wealdan mōt "if he can manage it" is a set phrase.^[7] It glosses Latin dominare.^[5]

The verb lived on as Middle English welden, which merged with the weak verb wieldan, and became the English word wield.^[13][14]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – waldeð “will rule”, glossing dominabitur, in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[9][10]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – in the Old English Bede (Tanner 10).^[15][10]
• s. x med. – welt of the axle that controls the wagon in the Old English Boethius.^[16][8]
• s. x/xi – Ġēatum wealdan “to rule the Geats” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[17][7][1]
• Middle English – welden “to reign; to control; to possess”.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. to control the movement of something; to wield a weapon.^[8][11]
2. to rule, govern, have dominion over people or lands.^[8][7]
3. to have power over things; to possess.^[8][5]
4. (law) to arrange or decide; to choose between courses.^[12]
5. to cause, bring about.^[11]

Word family

• wealdend
• ġewealdan
• ġeweald
• ānweald
• onweald

Descendants

• Middle English welden (→ English wield; English wald; Scots wield)^[1]

Related words

• wieldan

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 569
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 443
4. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 385
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wealdan
6. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 232
7. ^ a b c d 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. wealdan
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1172
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
11. ^ a b c Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 398
12. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 237
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. 531
16. ^ 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. 296
17. ^ 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. 344