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Etymology and origin of the Old English word wise

wise1 way, manner

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
833–839 charter S 1482
Inherited from
Proto-West Germanic *wīsā
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *weyd-

Pronunciation

  • /ˈwiː.se/, [ˈwiː.ze][1]

Forms

wīse f (weak n-stem; genitive singular wīsan, nominative plural wīsan)[1]

Etymology

The word for “manner” is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *wīsā, from Proto-Germanic *wīsō (“way, manner”).[1][2] Its cognates are Old Frisian wīs, Old Saxon wīsa and Old High German wīsa, and Old Norse vísa “strophe”.[3][2] Holthausen and Köbler connect it with wīs (“wise”) and witan (“to know”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see”).[3][4] Holthausen compares Ancient Greek εἶδος (eîdos, “appearance, form”) and Latin vīsus (“sight”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the will of Abba, of 833×839, which survives in a contemporary single sheet: Heregyð hafað ðas wisan binemned, “Heregyth has laid down these arrangements”, for a yearly render to Christ Church.[5][6] In the Vespasian Psalter gloss of the mid-ninth century wisan bitre renders “rem amaram”, “a bitter thing”.[7][6]

Semantic evolution

The central sense is the way or manner of doing something, from which come custom and habit; in the charters it is a testamentary arrangement, and elsewhere a business, affair or thing, a state or condition, a reason or cause, a direction, a melody and an idiom.[8][9] Its accusative and dative make adverbial phrases: on ōþre wīsan “otherwise”, on ǣnige wīsan “in any way”, and in Beowulf ealde wīsan “after the old fashion”.[10][11] In the glosses it renders Latin “res” and “negotium”.[4] The word lived on as Middle English wise, now wise “manner”, most common in English as the word-forming -wise.[12]

Timeline

  • 833×839 – ðas wisan binemned in the will of Abba, a contemporary single sheet.[5][6]
  • s. ix med. – wisan bitre glossing “rem amaram” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.[7][6]
  • 890×897 – on oðre wisan libbað, “live in another way”, in the Pastoral Care.[13][6]
  • s. x/xi – ealde wīsan “after the old fashion” in Beowulf.[11][14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. way, manner, fashion.[9][8]
  2. custom, habit.[8][3]
  3. a testamentary arrangement.[8][4]
  4. a business, affair, thing.[8][15]
  5. condition, state, circumstance.[8][10]
  6. reason, cause.[8][15]
  7. a melody; an idiom.[8]

Descendants

  • Middle English wise (→ English wise)[12]

wise2 sprout, stalk

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 950 Bald's Leechbook

Pronunciation

  • /ˈwiː.se/, [ˈwiː.ze][1]

Forms

wīse f (weak n-stem; genitive singular wīsan, nominative plural wīsan)[1]

Etymology

The word for a sprout has no settled etymology.[1][3] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Germanic *waisō and the root Proto-Indo-European *weys- (“to increase”).[1] Holthausen compares Old Norse vísir (“sprout, shoot”), Norwegian words for a stalk or shoot, and Lithuanian veisti (“to multiply”).[3] Orel lists the Norwegian word for “stalk” under *waisō and compares the same Old Norse word.[16] Köbler gives no etymology.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is recorded in the medical recipes of Bald's Leechbook, a manuscript of the mid-tenth century: streawberian wisan, the stalks of the strawberry plant, are to be taken for a remedy.[17][18]

Semantic evolution

It is a word of the medical texts and the glossaries, used of the stalks of strawberry, clover and heather.[17][8] Sweet glosses it as a growth or a strawberry plant.[19] It lived on as Middle English wise, a plant or stalk, as in strawbery wyse in the Promptorium parvulorum of 1440.[20]

Timeline

  • s. x med. – streawberian wisan in Bald's Leechbook.[17][18]
  • 1440 – Middle English strawbery wyse in the Promptorium parvulorum.[20]

Meanings

Noun

  1. a sprout, a stalk.[17][4]
  2. a plant, especially the strawberry plant.[19]

Descendants

  • Middle English wise[20]

Usage notes

The spelling wise is also a form of the adjective wīs (“wise”) and of the adverb wīse “wisely”, and wisan of the verb wīsian (“to show, guide”); these are separate words.[17][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  3. ^ a b c d e f Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 399
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wīse
  5. ^ 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 1482
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 412
  9. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1240
  10. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 245
  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. wīse
  12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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. 499
  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. 344
  15. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 747
  16. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 441
  17. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1241
  18. ^ 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. 412
  19. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 230
  20. ^ 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)

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

“Wise.” Etymologically, 16 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ang/wise. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·