wag

wag¹ to move to and fro

Etymology

The word for moving to and fro is inherited from Middle English waggen,^[2][3][4] probably inherited from Old English wagian (“to move to and fro, shake, totter”),^[2][5][6] or, in the analysis of the OED, the Shorter Oxford and Hoad, an iterative or emphatic formation on the root of that Old English verb.^[4][7][8] The Middle English Dictionary adds reinforcement from Old Norse, comparing Old Norse vaga (“to wag, waddle”) and vagga (“cradle”);^[2][9] Barnhart and Etymonline go further and take the Middle English verb as probably from a Scandinavian source, comparing Old Swedish wagga (“to fluctuate, rock a cradle”) and Danish vugge (“to rock a cradle”), with wagian contributing in part.^[10][11] The OED compares Middle High German wacken (“to totter”) too.^[4][3] The Old English verb is cognate with Old Saxon wagian and Old High German wagōn (“to move, surge”),^[12][3][13] and Etymonline and Klein add Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wagjan, “to wag”);^[11][9] all go back to Proto-Germanic *wagōną,^[13][12][1] which Orel derives from *weganą (“to move”), the source of weigh.^[12][10] Etymonline takes the Germanic root as probably from Proto-Indo-European *wegh- (“to go, move, transport in a vehicle”).^[11][14] The frequentative waggle is formed on the verb.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

To be in motion, to stir or move: the first record is in the Ancrene Riwle, about 1225.^[4][10] Etymonline dates the intransitive verb to the early 13th century, glossing it "waver, vacillate, lack steadfastness".^[11]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb covered both motion in general and swaying or rocking: it meant to totter or be in danger of falling (about 1340 to 1470), to swing or sway like something loose in a socket (1377, in Langland's Piers Plowman), and figuratively to waver (1387, in Trevisa).^[4] It was also used of a body dangling on the gallows (about 1430 to 1600).^[4] The transitive use, to move something to and fro, dates from about 1300,^[11] and dogs wagging their tails appear in Edward, Duke of York's Master of Game (1456).^[11] From 1484, in Caxton's Aesop, the verb is used of a limb, the head or the tail moved briskly,^[4] and since 1590 of the tongue in busy or indiscreet talk.^[4][5] The colloquial sense "to go, be off" appears in 1594, in Lyly.^[4] The noun, an act of wagging, followed in 1589, in Lodge's Scillaes Metamorphosis.^[4][10][3] In Scots and northern dialect wag meant to move, stir, go or rock,^[15] and Collins records a slang sense, to play truant, especially in wag it.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – to be in motion, to stir, move.^[4][10]
• c. 1300 – transitive, to move something to and fro.^[11]
• c. 1340 – to totter, be in danger of falling (obsolete by 1470).^[4]
• 1377 – to swing or sway to and fro, as something loose.^[4]
• 1387 – figuratively, to waver (obsolete by 1566).^[4]
• c. 1430 – to dangle on the gallows (obsolete by 1600).^[4]
• 1456 – of dogs, to wag the tail.^[11]
• 1484 – of a limb, the head or the tail, to be moved briskly.^[4]
• 1589 – noun, an act of wagging.^[4][10][3]
• 1590 – of the tongue, to move busily in talk.^[4]
• 1594 – to go, depart.^[4]
• 1701 – to sway the body from side to side.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To move, or make something move, quickly and repeatedly from side to side or up and down: The puppy wagged its tail at the door.^[5][3][4]
2. Of the tongue: to move busily in talk, especially in gossip: Tongues will wag if they see you leave together.^[5][3][4]
3. To move a finger from side to side as a warning or reproof.^[5]
4. (colloquial) To stir or move; also, to go or be off.^[3][4]
5. (slang) To play truant, especially in wag it.^[5]

Noun

1. An act of wagging: a quick wag of the finger.^[3][5][4]

Word family

• wagger
• chinwag
• wagtail

wag² joker

Etymology

The word for a joker is probably from English a shortening of waghalter, a gallows bird, someone likely to swing in a halter, applied playfully to a child;^{[3][7][11][6][16]} waghalter is a compound of the verb wag and halter.^[3][11] The OED notes that this was Wedgwood's suggestion, but takes the noun as probably from the verb, which it may have come from in other ways,^[4] and Barnhart thinks the dates favour the verb, perhaps with reference to wagging the head playfully or mockingly, since waghalter is recorded only from 1570.^[10] Etymonline compares wagger, one who stirs up, from the late 14th century.^[11] Collins calls the noun of uncertain origin,^[5] and Johnson derived it from an Old English verb meaning to cheat.^[17]

Earliest recorded meaning

A mischievous boy, often used by a mother as a pet name for a baby boy, and more widely a youth or fellow: before 1556, in Udall's Ralph Roister Doister.^[4] Barnhart dates it before 1553,^[10] Merriam-Webster Unabridged about 1553,^[3] and Etymonline to the 1550s.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The sense "habitual joker, droll" is first recorded in 1584, in Scot's Discouerie of Witchcraft, and in early use it often merged with the sense of a mischievous boy,^[4] which died out after 1672.^[4][7] Johnson (1755) defined it as "any one ludicrously mischievous; a merry droll", quoting Sidney's "Cupid the wag",^[17] and Steele in the Tatler (1710) described the wag as one who sees whatever he sees in the lowest light.^[11] The derivatives waggish (1589) and waggery (1594) date from the same years.^[10][11] The phrase play the wag, to play truant, is slang: Green's Dictionary of Slang has it from 1841,^[18] the OED from 1861, in Mayhew, beside hop the wag.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1556 – a mischievous boy; a youth, a fellow (obsolete by 1672).^[4] Barnhart dates it before 1553.^[10]
• 1584 – a habitual joker, a wit.^[4]
• 1841 – play the wag, to play truant.^[18] The OED's first record is from 1861.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person fond of making jokes; a wit or joker: Some wag had pinned a paper tail to the teacher's coat.^[3][7][4]
2. (slang) play the wag: to play truant.^[4][18]
3. (obsolete, 1550s–1672) A mischievous boy; a young man, a fellow.^[3][7][4]

Word family

• waggish
• waggery