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weigh

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Pronunciation

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

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