west

Forms

west^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *westr,^[1] from Proto-Germanic *westraz (“west, westward”).^[2][1] The adverb has cognates in Old Norse vestr (“westwards”), Old Saxon westar, Old Frisian wester and Old High German westar.^[2][3] Holthausen compares the Old Norse noun of the same form, meaning “the west”.^[4]

Orel derives the Germanic form from *westan.^[2] Köbler sets up an adverb *westa (“westward”) and connects it doubtfully with the root Proto-Indo-European *au- (“down, away”).^[5] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Indo-European *wek⁽ʷ⁾speros (“evening, dusk”), the ⟨p⟩ having become ⟨t⟩ under the influence of the words for east, north and south.^[1] Etymonline calls the origin uncertain and names, as a possibility, the root of Ancient Greek ἕσπερος (hésperos, “evening”) and Latin vesper (“evening, west”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adverb is first found in the bounds of a grant of King Coenwulf of Mercia to Archbishop Wulfred, dated 811, whose single sheet is held to be the original.^[7] The bounds run “swa andlang dices west on burhrode” (“so along the ditch westward to Burhrode”).^[8] The sense is the direction of movement, the first that Bosworth and Toller give.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In the charters west marks the course of a boundary, and it is common in the Chronicle for the movements of armies and fleets: se sciphere sigelede west ymbutan “the fleet sailed west around”.^[9] It also marks where something lies, as in a homily where a town lies a mile west of a place, or in the Boethius where the evening star is seen in the west.^[9] The poems use it too: in The Battle of Maldon the Viking wælwulfas wade west over the river Pante.^[9]

The charters also have a comparative westra and a superlative westmæst.^[10] Middle English kept west as adverb, adjective and noun, and the word lives on as English west.^[11][6]

Timeline

• 811 – andlang dices west “westward along the ditch” in the bounds of Coenwulf's charter, an original single sheet.^[7][8]
• s. ix/x – Her for se here west “here the army went west” in the Parker Chronicle, annal 886.^[12][9]
• s. x med. – the evening star seen in the west in the Boethius.^[13][9]
• s. x² – he west gewiteþ “he departs westward” in The Phoenix in the Exeter Book.^[14][9]
• Middle English – Middle English west “towards the west; the west”.^[11]

Meanings

Adverb

1. westward, towards the west, of the direction of movement.^[9][5]
2. in the west, to the west of a place, of position.^[9][15]

Word family

• westan
• westra
• westdǣl
• westende

Descendants

• Middle English west (→ English west; Scots wast)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 459
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 391
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. west
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b 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 168
8. ^ a b Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ 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. 1210
10. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 745
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ 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
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. 296
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. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 226