weigh

Pronunciation

• IPA: /weɪ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English wegan (“to find the weight of, lift, carry, move”) (about 725, in Beowulf),^[2][3][4] from *weganą,^[2][3] cognate with Dutch wegen, Old High German wegan, to move, weigh (German wiegen, and bewegen, to move), Old Norse vega and Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 (gawigan), to shake.^[2][3][4][5] It goes back to an Indo-European root meaning “to move, carry”, also in Latin vehere (see vehicle) and Sanskrit वहति (váhati), he carries.^[2][3][6] way is from the same root.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To lift, carry, move and to find the weight of: about 725.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline traces the prehistoric development from “move” to “lift, raise” to “bear up to find the weight of”, compare Latin pendere, to weigh, hang.^[3][6] The sense to lift survives in weigh anchor (14th century).^[3][7][4] To consider or ponder, to weigh words or arguments, is from the mid-14th century,^[3] and weigh down, first figurative, also from the mid-14th century.^[3] To have weight or influence is an extension of having heaviness.^[4][8] Under weigh (1777) is an error for under way, by association with weighing anchor.^[7][8] weight is not directly from weigh, but Old English gewiht was re-formed under its influence.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 725 – wegan.^[2]
• 14th century – to weigh anchor.^[7][4]
• mid-14th century – to consider, ponder; weigh down.^[3]
• 1777 – under weigh.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To find how heavy something is, using a scale or balance.
2. To have a given weight: she weighs ten stone.
3. To consider carefully; to compare: to weigh the evidence.
4. To have influence or importance.
5. To press heavily on someone's mind, with on: it weighed on him.
6. To raise a ship's anchor.

Word family

• weigher
• weighable
• checkweighman
• counterweigh
• outweigh
• reweigh
• weighbridge
• weighman

Related words

• weight
• way
• vehicle
• wagon
• wey

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 e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin