weder

Forms

weder n (nominative plural wedru) (strong a-stem)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *wedr, from Proto-Germanic *wedrą (“wind, weather”).^[1][2] The noun is shared with Old Norse veðr, Old Frisian weder, Old Saxon wedar and Old High German wetar.^[3][4]

Holthausen offers two uncertain connections: either with Proto-Slavic *vedro (“fine weather”), or with the words for wind, Proto-Slavic *větrъ (“wind”) and Lithuanian vėtra (“storm”).^[3] Köbler sets up Proto-Indo-European *wedʰro- (“weather”) from the root “to blow”.^[4] Wiktionary calls the traditional link with the Slavic word and a root Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”) phonetically difficult, since the Germanic word lacks the long vowel.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is first recorded in the mid-ninth-century gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, at Psalm 106: Sette yst in weder & swigedon yðe his over “Statuit procellam in auram et siluerunt fluctus eius”, “He turned the storm into a breeze, and its waves were stilled”.^[5][6] Here it renders Latin “aura”, a gentle air.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

The word names the state of the air, good or bad: gód weder in the Leechbook, ceald weder in the Orosius, hreóh weder “rough weather” for “tempestas” in the Gospels.^[7] It also names the air and the sky, a breeze, and a storm or tempest.^[8][9] In Beowulf the plural wedera means storms.^[10] Sweet adds the sense of season or time of day.^[9] A poem in the Exeter Book, Wulf and Eadwacer, has rēniġ weder “rainy weather”.^[1] The word continues as Middle English weder, now English weather.^[11][12]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – weder “breeze” for “aura” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[5][6]
• s. x¹ – hit wæs ceald weder “it was cold weather” in the Old English Orosius.^[13][6]
• s. x² – rēniġ weder in Wulf and Eadwacer in the Exeter Book.^[1][14]
• s. x/xi – wedera “storms” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[10][15]

Meanings

Noun

1. weather, the state of the air.^[7][4]
2. air, sky.^[8][9]
3. a breeze; a storm, tempest.^[8][10]
4. season, time of day.^[9]

Word family

• unweder
• wederblǣc

Descendants

• Middle English weder (→ English weather; Middle Scots weddir; Middle Scots wethir)^[1]

Related words

• ġewidere

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
3. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 388
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. weder
5. ^ 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
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1182
8. ^ 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. 401
9. ^ a b c d Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 224
10. ^ a b c 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. weder
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ 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. 249
14. ^ 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
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. 344