Etymologically
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wind

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English has two words spelled wind: moving air, pronounced /wɪnd/, and “to turn, twist”, pronounced /waɪnd/.[1][2][3]

wind1 air

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /wɪnd/[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wind, inherited from Old English wind,[4][1] from Proto-Germanic *winda-,[4] the source also of Old Saxon and Dutch wind, Old High German wint (German Wind), Old Norse vindr and Gothic winds.[1][5] It is from Proto-Indo-European *wē-nt-o- (“blowing”), a participial form of Proto-Indo-European *we- (“to blow”),[4] which also gave Latin ventus and Welsh gwynt.[1][5] The verb, “to expose to air” and later “to put out of breath”, is from the noun.[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Air in natural motion: about 725, in Beowulf,[1] and the OED, by the direction it blows from, also from about 725.[6]

Semantic evolution

From about 1200 the wind was a symbol of emptiness and vanity, and in Middle English also of swiftness and changeability.[4] The wind as what drives a sailing ship is from about 900.[6] The normal sound change made the word rhyme with kind (Donne rhymes it with mind), but it changed to a short vowel in the 18th century, probably under the influence of windy.[4] A windfall was first fruit blown down by the wind (15th century), then an unexpected gain (16th).[5] To get wind of, from a hunted animal catching the scent of the hunter, is from the mid-19th century.[7] The verb meant “to expose to the wind” from the mid-13th century, “to scent”, of animals, by about 1400,[4] and “to sound a horn” by the 1580s.[4] “To put out of breath” is from the late 15th century, and in boxing, of a punch in the stomach, from 1802.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – moving air.[1]
  • c. 900 – the wind that drives a ship.[6]
  • c. 1200 – symbol of emptiness.[4]
  • mid-13th century – verb, to expose to the wind.[4]
  • c. 1400 – verb, to scent.[4]
  • 16th century – windfall, an unexpected gain.[5]
  • 18th century – the short vowel.[4]
  • 1802 – verb, to wind with a punch.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A natural movement of air, especially along the ground.
  2. Air moved by a fan or bellows.
  3. Breath, or the ability to breathe: lose one's wind.
  4. Gas in the stomach or intestines.
  5. Empty talk.
  6. (music) The woodwind and brass instruments of an orchestra.

Verb

  1. To make short of breath: the climb winded him.
  2. To catch the scent of.
  3. To expose to the air.

Word family

  • windy
  • windmill
  • windfall
  • windpipe
  • windward
  • windbreak
  • winnow
  • window

wind2 turn

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /waɪnd/[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English winden,[4][1] inherited from Old English windan (“to turn, twist, plait, brandish”),[4][1] from Proto-Germanic *windan,[4] the source also of Old Saxon windan, Dutch winden, Old High German wintan (German winden), Old Norse vinda and Gothic biwindan “to wind around”,[1][2] from Proto-Indo-European *wendh- (“to turn, wind, weave”).[4][1] It is related to wander, and wend is its causative.[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English windan, about 725 in Beowulf;[1] in the OED's first example, about 897, it expresses rapid or forcible motion, as of flowing water.[6] Middle English winden is from about 1175.[1]

Semantic evolution

The Old English verb meant to move in a certain direction;[5] in Middle English it is not always clear whether it or wend is meant.[4] To move in a circular or winding path is from the 13th century,[5] to pass something round something else from the 14th,[5] and to set a mechanism going by winding, as a clock, from the 17th.[5] The noun, an apparatus for winding, is from 1399, and a bend or twist from 1825.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English windan.[1]
  • 13th century – to move in a circular path.[5]
  • 14th century – to pass round something.[5]
  • 1399 – noun, a winch.[6]
  • 17th century – to wind a clock.[5]
  • 1825 – noun, a bend or twist.[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To wrap something around itself or another thing; to coil.
  2. To turn a crank or key, as to tighten a spring: wind a clock.
  3. To move or go along a twisting course: the road winds through the hills.

Noun

  1. A single turn or bend.

Word family

  • winder
  • winding
  • wind up
  • unwind
  • rewind
  • wend
  • vent
  • ventilate
  • weather
  • wander
  • wand
  • widdershins

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press