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Etymology and origin of the Old English word wer

wer1 man

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 850 Vespasian Psalter gloss
Inherited from
Proto-West Germanic *wer
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós

Pronunciation

Forms

wer m (strong a-stem; genitive singular weres, nominative plural weras)[1]

Etymology

The word for “man” is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *wer, from Proto-Germanic *weraz (“man, husband”).[1] It is found in all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂 (wair), Old Norse verr, Old Saxon wer and Old High German wer.[2][3][4] It is one of the Indo-European words for “man”: Kroonen derives it from Proto-Indo-European *uiH-ró-, with the vowel shortened before the stress (Dybo's law).[2] Orel lists Latin vir, Old Irish fer and the Welsh word beside the forms with a long vowel, Sanskrit वीर (vīrá) and Lithuanian výras.[3][4][1] Köbler gives the root as *u̯ī̆ros, “strong; man”.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Old English gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, of the mid-ninth century: in a psalm verse ne in geteldum weres wel gelicad is him renders “neque in tabernaculis uiri beneplacitum est ei”, “nor does he take pleasure in the tents of a man”.[6][7] The Pastoral Care (890×897) sets men against women: On oðre wisan mon sceal manian weras, on oðre wif, “men are to be admonished in one way, women in another”.[8][7]

Semantic evolution

The word means a male person, a man as against a woman, and a husband; in the poetry it is also a hero or warrior.[9][10] It glosses Latin “vir”, and Bosworth and Toller cite it in the gloss wer oððe wǣpman, “man or male”.[5][10] In the laws wer is also the price set on a man's life, interchangeable with werġield.[10][4] Besides the Middle English noun for a man, Middle English kept wer for wergild.[11] It survives in the first part of werewolf.[12]

Timeline

  • s. ix med. – in geteldum weres “in the tents of a man” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.[6][7]
  • 890×897 – weras beside wif in the Pastoral Care.[8][7]
  • c. 950–968 – hys wer, a man's wergild, in a record of a dispute surviving in a manuscript of the later tenth century.[13][7]
  • s. x/xi – wer, plural weras, in Beowulf.[14][15]

Meanings

Noun

  1. a man, a male person.[10][9]
  2. a husband.[9][5]
  3. (poetic) a hero, a warrior.[9][1]
  4. (law) the price set on a man's life, wergild.[10][9]

Word family

  • werġield
  • werwulf
  • weorold
  • werlīċ
  • rihtwer

Descendants

  • Middle English wer (→ English wer; English were)[1]

wer2 weir

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
890–897 Pastoral Care
Inherited from
Proto-West Germanic *wari
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *warją

Pronunciation

Forms

wer m (strong a-stem; genitive singular weres, nominative plural weras)[1]

Etymology

The word for a weir is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *wari, from Proto-Germanic *warją (“dam, weir”).[1] Its cognates are Old Saxon wer, Old High German weri and Old Norse ver, beside forms in -e such as Old Frisian were.[4][16][1] Holthausen derives it from the verb werian (“to defend; to dam”).[4] Köbler compares the root Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to shut, cover, protect”).[17]

Earliest recorded meaning

The weir is first recorded in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20, 890×897): se se ðe ðone wer bricð, and ðæt wæter út forlǣt, “he who breaks the weir and lets the water out”, begins strife.[18][8]

Semantic evolution

The weir was often built for fishing, and the word also came to mean the fish-trap and the catch taken in it.[18][9] It is frequent in charters and their bounds, and the laws have the compound fiscwer (“fish-weir”).[9][19] The word became Middle English were, now weir.[12]

Timeline

  • 890×897 – ðone wer that holds back the water in the Pastoral Care.[18][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. a weir, a dam.[18][4]
  2. a fish-trap; a catch, a draught of fish.[9][18]

Word family

  • fiscwer

Descendants

  • Middle English were (→ English weir)[1]
  • werian

Usage notes

Bosworth and Toller also list a word wer or were “troop, band”, glossing Latin “manipulus”;[18][4] Holthausen connects it with werod (“troop”), so it is apart from both homographs above.[18][4] The spelling wer is also a form of hwǣr (“where”) and of wǣron, which do not belong here.[20]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 588
  3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 463
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 391
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wer
  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 c d 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 f g h Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 404
  10. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1205
  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. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  13. ^ The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 1447
  14. ^ 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. wer
  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
  16. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  17. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wėr
  18. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1206
  19. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 240
  20. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hwǣr

Related etymologies

  • hearpe · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • lippa · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • ceorfan · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • felan · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • grund · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • morgen · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • bi · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • hearm · also from Proto-West Germanic
Cite this entry

“Wer.” Etymologically, 16 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ang/wer. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·