willan

Forms

willan (irregular; third-person singular present wile, past singular wolde, past plural woldon)^[1] Mercian wellaþ and wellende (Vespasian Psalter gloss), Northumbrian wallað; past wolde, also walde.^[2][3][4] Negative nyllan, nellan “not to want”, past nolde.^[5][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *willjan, from Proto-Germanic *wiljaną (“to want”).^[1][6] The verb is found in all the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wiljan), Old Norse vilja, Old Frisian willa, Old Saxon willian and Old High German wellen.^[6][7][8] Its inflection is irregular in every one of them.^[9]

It is related to Latin volō (“I want”) and to verbs for choosing in Sanskrit, Avestan and Lithuanian, from the root Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- (“to choose, want”).^[1][9][10] The present goes back to an optative: the polite subjunctive forms replaced the old athematic indicative, which the Latin third person singular still shows.^[10][6] The ⟨ll⟩ of ⟨wille⟩ and ⟨willað⟩ is the gemination before /j/ of forms such as *wiljō.^[10] The past ⟨wolde⟩ adds the dental suffix straight to the root;^[10][6] Kroonen traces it to an old aorist.^[10][6] The second person ⟨wilt⟩ follows the preterite-present verbs.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Vespasian Psalter gloss (s. ix med.), where for ðon ne wellende god unrehtwisnisse ðu earð glosses Latin “quoniam non volens deus iniquitatem tu es” (“for you are not a God who wills wickedness”, Psalm 5).^[11][4] The will of Ealdorman Alfred (871×899), in a ninth-century copy, asks that a gift go to the churches þa hwile þe hio lestan willen “as long as they will last”.^[12][4]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller begin with the faculty of willing and the sense to wish, purpose or intend, with an infinitive, as in Ic wille gangan tō Rōme “I will go to Rome” in the Blickling Homilies.^[2] From intention it passes to habit and to the future: Köbler gives “be used to”, “be about to” and the future auxiliary.^[7] Toller's Supplement adds its use of animals and things, a natural tendency (Gif ēaran willen ādēafian “if the ears are going deaf”), and the clauses with wolde that render a Latin infinitive or purpose clause.^[13] With a verb of motion understood it means to want to go, as in swā oft swā hē tō his horse wolde in the Orosius.^[13]

Etymonline notes that the future use was developing in Old English; the word lived on as Middle English willen, now will.^[3][14]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – ne wellende god glossing “non volens deus” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[11][4]
• 871×899 – þa hwile þe hio lestan willen in the will of Ealdorman Alfred, in a ninth-century copy.^[12][4]
• 890×897 – the verb in the Pastoral Care and its preface (Hatton 20).^[15][4]
• s. ix/x – the verb in the Parker Chronicle.^[16][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. to wish, desire, want.^[2][7]
2. to intend, mean, be willing (with an infinitive).^[2][17]
3. to want to go, with a verb of motion understood.^[13][1]
4. to be used to; of things, to tend to.^[7][13]
5. to be about to; marking the future tense.^[7][17]

Word family

• nyllan

Descendants

• Middle English willen (→ English will; Scots will; Scots wil)^[1]

Related words

• wil
• willa

Usage notes

Bosworth and Toller also head a weak verb willan, wyllan “to boil”, used in the medical texts;^[18][19] Köbler files it under wiellan and derives it from the root of weallan “to well up, boil”.^[18][19] The noun willa “will, wish” shares several forms with this verb.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1226
3. ^ a b c 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)
4. ^ a b c d e f g Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
5. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 6.163
6. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 578
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. willan
8. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 396
9. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 453
10. ^ a b c d e f Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 6.161
11. ^ 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
12. ^ 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 1508
13. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 746
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. 499
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. 83
17. ^ 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. willan
18. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1228
19. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wiellan