Etymologically
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week

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /wiːk/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English weke, wike,[2][3] inherited from Old English wice, also wicu and wucu,[4][5][3] from Proto-Germanic *wikōn,[6][5] which probably first meant “turn, succession”.[6][7][8] Its cognates are Old Frisian wike, Old Saxon wika, Dutch week, Old High German wehha (modern German Woche) and Old Norse vika,[6][8] and it is related to Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌺𐍉 (wikō, “order, turn”), which translates Greek τάξις (táxis) in Luke 1:8.[9][8] The same idea of change is seen in German Wechsel (“change”) and probably in Latin vicis (“change, turn”).[10][3] Etymonline cites Watkins for a root Proto-Indo-European *weik- (“to bend, wind”), and Boutkan for a root meaning “exchange”.[4] The vowel varied in Old and Middle English, and Skeat notes a later form wucu that gave Middle English wouke, now lost.[4][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The cycle of seven days (Old English wice, 878, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).[2][11]

Semantic evolution

According to Buck, quoted by Etymonline, the Germanic word may once have named some other division of time, such as a change of the moon, but there is no firm evidence of a native Germanic week before contact with the Romans.[4] The seven-day week of the Hebrew and then the Christian calendar was adopted by the Romans in AD 321 and probably reached Britain with them.[12] The sense “any seven days, from whenever counted” is recorded from about 1055,[11] the working days of the week from 1389[13] and weeks for an indefinitely long time from 1597.[13] Phrases such as Monday week, “a week from Monday”, date from 1680;[13] in Middle English a week ahead was to day seven night.[4] Weekley calls week-end a northern expression that became general around 1885.[14] A week is a long time in politics was said by Harold Wilson during the sterling crisis of 1964.[12]

Timeline

  • 878 – Old English wice (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).[2]
  • c. 950 – a particular week of the year, such as Easter week.[11]
  • c. 1055 – any period of seven days.[11]
  • before 1200 – Middle English wike (Layamon).[2]
  • 1389 – the working week.[13]
  • 1597 – weeks, a long time.[13]
  • 1604 – similar cycles of days in other cultures.[11]
  • 1680 – Monday week, a week after Monday.[13]
  • c. 1885 – week-end in general use.[14]
  • 1964 – “a week is a long time in politics” (Harold Wilson).[12]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A period of seven days.
  2. The seven days of the calendar, usually counted from Sunday or Monday.
  3. The working days of the week, or the time spent working in them.
  4. A week marked by a holiday or devoted to a cause: Easter week.
  5. (British) A week after a named day: Sunday week.

Word family

  • midweek
  • weekend
  • workweek
  • weeklong
  • weekly
  • biweekly
  • weeknight
  • weekday
  • fortnight
  • vicarious

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ a b c d e f Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  14. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray