wiht

wiht¹ thing, creature

Pronunciation

• /wixt/, [wiçt]^[1]

Forms

wiht f or n (strong i-stem; genitive singular wihte, nominative plural wihte)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “thing, creature” is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *wihti, from Proto-Germanic *wihtiz (“thing, being”).^[1] Wiktionary takes it as a merger of the feminine *wihtiz and the neuter *wihtą, which fell together by regular sound change before the written record.^[1] The noun is shared by Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄𐍃 (waihts, “thing”), Old Norse vættr (“being”), Old Saxon wiht and Old High German wiht.^[2][3][4]

Orel identifies it with a Slavic word for “thing”, Old Church Slavonic вещь (veštĭ).^[3][1] Kroonen calls it a Germanic–Slavic isogloss, but also weighs a comparison with Old Irish fecht (“time, course”), which would make it a noun of Proto-Germanic *weganą (“to move”).^[2] Köbler sets it under Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ- (“to speak”).^[5] Etymonline notes that Boutkan gives it no Indo-European etymology.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the Pastoral Care in Hatton 20, written 890×897, on false physicians of the soul who nana wuht ongitan ne cunnon ðara gæstlecena beboda “can understand nothing of the spiritual commandments”.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The noun covers both “creature” and “thing”.^[9][10] A living being is meant in the Boethius, where manig wyht is mistlice ferende geond eorþan “many a creature moves in various ways over the earth”, and in the Exeter Book riddles, where the object speaks as wunderlicu wiht “a wondrous creature”.^[9] In Beowulf it names the dragon, syllicran wiht, wyrm on wonge “a stranger creature, a serpent on the plain”.^[9][10] Sweet adds “sprite, demon”.^[11] In negative clauses it means “anything”, and the dative wihte and the accusative wiht serve as an adverb “at all”.^[10] In the Lindisfarne gloss it means “animal”.^[12]

The noun lived on as Middle English wight, now English wight and whit; through āwiht and nāwiht it also lies behind aught and naught.^[13][6]

Timeline

• 890×897 – nana wuht “nothing” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[7][8]
• s. x med. – manig wyht “many a creature” in the Old English Boethius.^[14][8]
• s. x² – wunderlicu wiht in the Exeter Book riddles.^[15][9]
• s. x/xi – syllicran wiht “a stranger creature”, the dragon, in the Beowulf manuscript.^[16][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. a creature, being, person.^[9][5][10]
2. a sprite, demon.^[11]
3. a thing; in negative clauses anything, so “nothing”.^[10][11]

Adverb

1. (wiht, wihte) at all, in negative clauses.^[10][11]

Word family

• āwiht
• nāwiht
• nānwiht
• ǣlwiht
• ōwiht
• sǣwiht

Descendants

• Middle English wight (→ English wight; English whit; Scots wicht)^[1]

wiht² weight

Pronunciation

• /wixt/, [wiçt]^[1]

Forms

wiht f^[1]

Etymology

The word for “weight” is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *wihti, from Proto-Germanic *wihtiz (“weight”), a noun in *-ti- made to *weganą (“to weigh”), the source of wegan.^[1][2] It is shared by Old Norse vétt (“weight”) and Old Frisian wicht.^[2][17] Köbler traces it to Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to move, carry”).^[17] The prefixed ġewiht and its cognates in Dutch and German continue a separate formation *ga-weht-ja-.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the Old English Herbarium (Cotton Vitellius C. iii, s. xi¹ or xi med.), which in a cure for swellings tells the reader to take the herb and pig's fat ægþres gelice micel be wihte “equal amounts of each by weight”.^[18][8]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller cite it as a gloss on Latin “pondus” and in recipes giving an amount be wihte or twenty penega wiht “twenty pennies' weight”; the Chronicle's annal for 1086 says the king took silver be wihte.^[19] The noun lived on as Middle English weght, now English weight; the Middle English Dictionary compares Old Norse and the verb wegan for its forms with -ei-.^[13]

Timeline

• s. xi¹ or xi med. – be wihte “by weight” in the Old English Herbarium.^[18][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. weight.^[19][17]
2. a weight as a measure, as in “twenty pennies' weight”.^[19]

Descendants

• Middle English weght (→ English weight; Scots wecht; Scots weicht)^[1]