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weld

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Pronunciation

weld1 dyer's plant

Etymology

The plant is inherited from Middle English welde, also wolde,[2][3][4][5] which the OED and Hoad trace to an unrecorded inherited from Old English *wealde, Anglian *walde.[5][2][6] It is related to Middle Low German walde or wolde, Middle Dutch woude and Dutch wouw;[5][2][4][3] the Dutch word is the source of German Wau and of Swedish vau.[5] The Germanic word was borrowed into the Romance languages as Spanish gualda, Portuguese gualde and French gaude.[5][6][3] The OED and Hoad think it possibly a derivative of wald (“wood, forest”), the source of wold and weald,[5][2][7][6] and Klein compares Latin lūtum (“weld”).[3] Anglo-Norman had wolde for the plant from about 1300.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The plant Reseda luteola, or the yellow dye made from it: about 1374, in Chaucer's The Former Age, his one use of the word.[5][9] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century.[6]

Semantic evolution

The plant was formerly much grown for its yellow dye;[6][7] Johnson (1755) entered it as weld or would, "yellow weed, or dyers weed".[10][7] Gerard's Herball (1597) also applied the name to other species of Reseda, a use now obsolete.[5] The plant is also called dyer's rocket.[4][11]

Timeline

  • c. 1374 – the dye plant Reseda luteola and its yellow dye.[5]
  • 1597 – other species of Reseda (obsolete).[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A European plant of the mignonette family, Reseda luteola, formerly grown as a source of yellow dye; dyer's rocket.[4][5][7]
  2. The yellow dye obtained from this plant.[4][5][3]

weld2 join by heating

Etymology

The verb is an altered form from English well (“to boil, melt; to weld”),[5][4][12][6][2] probably influenced by its past tense and past participle welled.[5][4][12][2][3] Ayto explains that well, from wellen, first meant to boil or melt and was used from the 15th century of fusing metal by heat, the form weld arising from the past form used as a present.[13][2] The Shorter Oxford, Weekley and Ayto suggest the influence of Swedish välla (“to well up; to weld”), since Swedish uses the same verb for welding iron.[7][14][13] The noun is from the verb.[5][12][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To become united, to undergo welding: 1599, in King James VI's Basilicon Doron,[5][4] 1590s in Etymonline.[6] The transitive sense, to join heated pieces of metal by hammering or pressure, follows in 1678, in Moxon's Mechanick Exercises.[5]

Semantic evolution

The older verb well was used in this sense from the 15th century,[2] and the Promptorium Parvulorum glosses wellyn metyl, to melt metal.[14] The figurative sense "to unite closely or inseparably" is recorded from 1839.[5][6] The noun, a welded joint, appears in 1831, in a treatise on metal manufactures,[5][12][6] and the act or process of welding in 1862.[5] In Yorkshire dialect weld also meant to sort and card wool for knitting.[15]

Timeline

  • 1599 – intransitive, to become united, to undergo welding.[5][4]
  • 1678 – transitive, to join heated metal by hammering or pressure.[5]
  • 1831 – noun, a welded joint.[5][12][4]
  • 1839 – figurative, to unite closely.[5][6]
  • 1862 – noun, the act or process of welding.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To join pieces of metal or plastic by heating them until soft or molten, and often hammering or pressing them together: The frame was welded from steel tubing.[16][4][5]
  2. To bring into close and lasting union: Years of hardship had welded the crew into a team.[16][4][5]
  3. To become joined, or to be capable of being joined, by welding.[4][5]

Noun

  1. A joint made by welding.[16][4][5]
  2. The act or process of welding, or the state of being welded.[4][5][7]

Word family

  • welder
  • weldable
  • weldability
  • weldless
  • reweld
  • weldment
  • butt-weld
  • well
  • wold
  • weald

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  12. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  13. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  14. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  15. ^ 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)
  16. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins