Etymologically
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weir

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /wɪə̯/[1]
  • US: /wɪɹ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English were,[2][3][4] inherited from Old English wer (“dam, fence, enclosure for catching fish”),[2][5][6][7][8] from the stem of the verb werian (“to defend; to hinder; to dam up”).[8][5][9][7][10] Old English wer corresponds to Old Saxon werr (“dam”), Middle Low German were, Middle High German wer, Middle Dutch were and German Wehr,[8][5][7][11] and the verb to Old Saxon werian, Old High German werien, Old Norse verja (“to defend”) and Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (warjan, “to hinder, defend”), from Proto-Germanic *warjaną.[12][5][7][11] The root is Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to cover, close, protect”),[2][3][5][9][11] the source also of aperiō (“to open”) and operiō (“to cover”).[5][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A dam, fence or enclosure in a river, especially one for catching fish: in Old English from 839 in Barnhart.[5] Bosworth–Toller quotes charters with phrases such as twýgen weoras, two weirs, in the river Stour.[6] A barrier or dam holding back water is recorded in King Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care.[8]

Semantic evolution

Ayto explains the word as a structure for "hindering" the flow of water, from the Old English verb meaning to defend and to hinder, and so to dam up.[9] From the start it named both a dam across a river and a fence of stakes for catching or keeping fish,[8][6] and in Old English it was sometimes used of the water held back by the dam.[6] The dam was built to raise or divert the water to drive a mill-wheel, or for navigation.[8][2] Later senses include a pond or pool (from before 1300, now dialect), an embankment against a river or the sea (1599), a charge in heraldry (1780) and, in Scotland, a hedge (1789).[8] The verb, to provide or dam with a weir, is recorded from 1610.[8] Barnhart explains the spelling with -ei- by a raising of the vowel before r in early modern English,[5] while the OED expects wear as the standard modern form, a form kept in dialect wair and ware.[8] Wright recorded such forms from Scotland to the south of England, with compounds like weir-hole.[13]

Timeline

  • 839 – Old English wer, a dam or fish enclosure.[5]
  • c. 1121 – Middle English waere.[5]
  • before 1300 – a pond or pool (now dialect).[8]
  • 1599 – an embankment to keep out a river or the sea.[8]
  • 1610 – the verb, to provide with a weir.[8]
  • 1611 – a wicker trap for fish.[8]
  • 1780 – in heraldry, a charge showing a weir.[8]
  • 1789 – in Scotland, a hedge.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A low dam built across a river to raise the water level, divert it or control its flow: Canoeists carried their boats round the weir.[14][15][8]
  2. A fence or enclosure of stakes, brushwood or nets set in a stream or tideway to catch fish.[14][15][8]

Verb

  1. To provide a river with a weir, or to dam it with one.[15][8]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  7. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  12. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster