wit

Pronunciation

• IPA: /wɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English witt, more often gewit, understanding, intellect, knowledge (about 725, in Beowulf),^[2][3][4] from *witją,^[2] cognate with Old Saxon wit, German Witz, joke, and Old Norse vit, knowledge.^[2][3][4] It is related to Old English witan, to know (see wise),^[2][5][6] which goes back to an Indo-European root meaning to see, hence to know, also in Latin vidēre and Greek eidénai.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The mind as the seat of consciousness and thought, understanding: about 725 in Barnhart, before 1000 in the OED.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English wit also meant the senses, as the five wits.^[3] Right mind and good judgement, and the plural wits, are from the 12th century,^[4] and at one's wit's end from 1377.^[7][3] A person of wit or learning is found about 1470,^[2] and the ability to combine ideas cleverly and amusingly is first recorded in 1542.^[2][3][4] The verb wit, to know, is now archaic, surviving in to wit, that is to say.^[2][8]

Timeline

• c. 725 – witt, the mind.^[2]
• 12th century – good judgement; one's wits.^[4]
• 1377 – at one's wit's end.^[7]
• c. 1470 – a clever person.^[2]
• 1542 – clever humour.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The ability to say or write clever and amusing things.
2. A person known for clever humour.
3. Intelligence or quickness of mind, often in the plural: to keep one's wits about one.

Verb

1. to wit (archaic): that is to say.

Word family

• witty
• half-wit
• nitwit
• dimwit
• witless
• witling
• outwit
• unwit

Related words

• wise
• witness
• unwitting
• wisdom

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 h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin