weardian

Forms

weardian (weak class 2; third-person singular present weardaþ, past singular weardode, past plural weardodon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *wardēn.^[1] Köbler gives the verb in Proto-Germanic as *wardēn or *wardōn (“to wait, guard, watch”), Orel as *warđōjanan.^[2][3][4] Its cognates are Old Saxon wardōn (“to protect, beware”), Old Frisian wardia, Old High German wartēn (“to wait, watch”) and Old Norse varða (“to warrant, guard”).^[4][5]

Holthausen derives it from the noun weard (“guard, watchman”), and Nerthus counts it as formed from that noun without a suffix.^[5][6] Orel likewise derives the Germanic verb from the nouns for “guard” and “watch”.^[4] Köbler traces the family to Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to perceive, pay attention”).^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Vercelli Book's Andreas God sends the apostle þær sylfætan eard weardigað, eðel healdaþ “where the cannibals occupy the land, hold the homeland”.^[8][9] In the Exeter Book's Christ the speaker urges þenden we on eorðan eard weardien “while we dwell in the land on earth”.^[10][9]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give the senses “to guard, keep, defend”, with the genitive “to have charge of” (the English who guarded the sea in the Chronicle for 1087), “to rule” (Seth weardode in Genesis A) and “to hold, occupy, inhabit”.^[11] Cnut's laws use it of the wife who must look after the keys.^[11][12] In the poetry it pairs with eard, wīc and ēþel (eard weardian “to dwell”), and leger weardian is “to keep one's bed”, of lovers in the Wife's Lament.^[11][6] Beowulf has lāst weardian “to follow” and also “to remain behind”, and swaðe weardian “to remain behind”.^[13][14] Nearly all of its records are in verse.^[9]

The verb lived on as Middle English warden, which also took in the Anglo-Norman verb warder, and is now English ward.^[15]

Timeline

• s. x² – eard weardigað in Andreas (Vercelli Book).^[8][9]
• s. x² – leger weardiaþ in the Wife's Lament (Exeter Book).^[11][10]
• s. x/xi – weardode and lāst weardian in the Beowulf manuscript.^[13][16]
• c1225 – Middle English warden “to guard”.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. to guard, watch over, defend.^[11][17][14]
2. with the genitive: to have charge of, look after.^[11][12]
3. to act as guardian over, rule (a realm).^[11]
4. to hold, occupy, inhabit;^[11][14][6] leger weardian to keep one's bed.^[11][14][6]
5. (poetic) lāst weardian to follow;^[13][14] lāst or swaðe weardian to remain behind.^[13][14]

Word family

• beweardian
• weardere

Descendants

• Middle English warden (→ English ward)^[1]

Related words

• weard

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. weardian
4. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 448
5. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 386
6. ^ a b c d Nerthus: An Online Lexical Database of Old English, Universidad de La Rioja, nerthusproject.com (derivational paradigms, via the Nerthus Project's open data), p. s.v. weardian
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. 704
9. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
10. ^ 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. 223
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1176
12. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 237
13. ^ 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. weardian
14. ^ a b c d e f Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 224
15. ^ 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)
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. 344
17. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 742