wyrhta

Forms

wyrhta m (weak; genitive singular wyrhtan, nominative plural wyrhtan)^[1] Kentish werhta in the Kentish Glosses, glossing Latin “operator”.^[2] Northumbrian wyrchta and wyrihte in the Lindisfarne gloss.^[2] Late Northumbrian wrihta, with the r moved before the vowel.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *wurhtijō (“worker”), a noun made from *wurhti (“deed”) with the suffix *-jō.^[1] Within Old English it is the noun wyrht “deed” with the weak masculine ending of agent nouns,^[1] and Holthausen sets it beside that noun.^[4] Köbler traces the family to the verb Proto-Germanic *wurkjan (“to work”), the source of wyrċan.^[5]

The same agent noun is found in Old Frisian wrichta, Old Saxon wurhtio and Old High German wurhtio.^[4][5]

The early form ⟨uyrihta⟩, in the compound ⟨hrofhuyrihta⟩ “roof-wright” of the Erfurt Glossary, has a vowel inserted between r and h.^[6] In late Northumbrian the r was moved before the vowel, giving ⟨wrihta⟩.^[3] The spelling ⟨wryhta⟩ is also found.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Pastoral Care, in the manuscript written between 890 and 897: in Gregory's reading of the parable of the barren fig tree, “Forðæm him wearð ierre se goda wyrhta forðæm he ofergreow ðæt land butan wæsðme” (“For this reason the good worker grew angry with it, because it overgrew the land without bearing fruit”).^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

Most often the word means a man who works at a trade or on the land: it glosses Latin “operarius”, “opifex” and “faber”, and the master builder is the yldest wyrhta, “architectus”.^[2][5] In the laws of Ine the wyrhta is the labourer on a holding, counted as a unit when the dues owed to a lord are reckoned.^[10][2] The word also means the maker or author of something, as the devil is wrōhtes wyrhta, the author of strife, in Juliana, and it names God as the Maker of all creatures, in prose (the Boethius) and in the poems.^[2] In Andreas it is used of God as the builder of heavenly glory.^[11]

As a second element it forms a long series of names of craftsmen, such as ġimwyrhta, sċōhwyrhta and sweordwyrhta, and of doers of deeds, such as morþwyrhta.^[12][1]

The word lived on as Middle English wurhte, now English wright, which by then meant above all a carpenter or builder and survives mostly in compounds such as wheelwright and in surnames.^[1][13]

Timeline

• 890×897 – se goda wyrhta in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[8][9]
• s. x med. – Se wyrhta is God in the Old English Boethius.^[14][9]
• s. x² – wealdend ond wyrhta wuldorþrymmes in Andreas in the Vercelli Book.^[15][9]
• s. x² – the builders (wyrhtan) of the ruined city in The Ruin in the Exeter Book.^[16][9]
• s. x³/⁴ – wyrihte glossing Latin “faber” in the Lindisfarne gloss to Mark.^[17][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. a workman, craftsman or labourer; one who works at a trade.^[2][18][5]
2. (law) a labourer on a holding, used as a unit in reckoning dues.^[10][2]
3. a maker, producer or author.^[2][19]
4. God as the Maker, the Creator.^[2][10]

Word family

• hrōfwyrhta
• ġimwyrhta
• sċipwyrhta
• sċōhwyrhta
• sċieldwyrhta
• īsenwyrhta
• trēowwyrhta
• wæġnwyrhta
• frumwyrhta
• morþwyrhta
• unrihtwyrhta
• ġewyrhta

Descendants

• Middle English wurhte (→ English wright; Scots wricht; Scots wrycht)^[1]

Related words

• weorc
• wyrċan
• wyrht
• wyrhte

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 1288
3. ^ a b Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 7.95
4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 411
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wyrhta
6. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 6.35
7. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 423
8. ^ 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
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 251
11. ^ North, Richard; Bintley, Michael D. J., eds. (2016), Andreas: An Edition, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press (glossary), p. s.v. wyrhta
12. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 751
13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. 296
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. 704
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. 223
17. ^ 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. 291
18. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 427
19. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 236