wid

Forms

wīd^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wīdaz (“wide, distant”).^[1][2] The adjective is shared by Old Norse víðr (“wide, large”), Old Frisian wīd, Old Saxon wīd and Old High German wīt (“wide, spacious”).^[2][3][4]

Kroonen explains it as a full-grade adjective made to a verbal formation Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- (“to set apart”), in which the first part would be a dissimilated form of *dwi- (“in two”) before the following dental, and compares Latin dīvidō (“to divide”).^[2] Wiktionary gives the same analysis.^[1] Orel thinks it probably related to the word for wood, wudu.^[3] Köbler connects it, with a query, with a Proto-Indo-European adverb meaning "apart, in two".^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20, 890×897), where the broad street of the Gospel is explained: "Hwæt getacnað eac sio rume stræt butan ðone widan weg ðisses andwerdan lifes?", "What else does the broad street signify but the wide way of this present life?"^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller distinguish three uses: of a stated width (an ark fifty fathoms wide), of great width (a wide street or gate), and of great extent (the wide world, the broad sea, a vast desert).^[8] The poems often join it with sīd, as wīd and sīd "wide and broad".^[8][9] Used of time, tō wīdan fēore and tō wīdan ealdre mean "for ever".^[10][11] In charter bounds it describes gates, valleys and woodland clearings, as in on widan leah.^[12] In glosses it renders Latin "latus".^[5]

It lived on as Middle English wid, now English wide.^[1][13]

Timeline

• 890×897 – ðone widan weg ðisses andwerdan lifes in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[6][7]
• 934 – on widan leh in the bounds of a charter.^[14][7]
• s. x² – Wid is þes westen “wide is this wilderness” in Guthlac in the Exeter Book.^[15][8]
• s. x/xi – ofer wid wæter in the Beowulf manuscript.^[16][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. wide, of a given width.^[8]
2. of great width, broad.^[8][5]
3. of great extent, vast, spacious.^[8][11]
4. of time, long: tō wīdan fēore “for ever”.^[10][9]

Word family

• wīde
• wīdcūþ
• wīdmǣre
• unwīd

Descendants

• Middle English wid (→ English wide; Scots wid; Scots wyd)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 584
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 465
4. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 393
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wīd
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. 499
7. ^ 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
8. ^ 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. 1215
9. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 227
10. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 407
11. ^ a b 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. wīd
12. ^ Middendorff, H. (1902), Altenglisches Flurnamenbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 150
13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ 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 425
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. 223
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