*wītaną

Reconstruction

The verb is *wītaną in Wiktionary,^[1] *wītanan in Orel^[2] and *weitan in Köbler, who lists it as his third verb of that form, "to punish, to torment".^[3]

Etymology

Wiktionary has it from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, to look”), with a shift of meaning from "to see" to "to witness" and then "to blame, to punish".^[1] Lehmann also traces it to this root.^[4]

Morphology

A strong verb of class I.^[5][2] Mailhammer lists a class I verb +weita-, without a gloss, among those with an inexact Indo-European etymology.^[6] Old Norse has a weak verb Old Norse víta (“to punish”).^[7][8] Ringe mentions *wītaną "look after; reproach" beside the weak verb *witāną "observe, pay attention to", and his index keeps it apart from the preterite-present *witaną "know".^[9][10] Holthausen also treats the Old English witan (“to know”) and the strong verb wītan in separate articles.^[11][5]

Evidence

Gothic has the verb only in compounds: Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fraweitan, “to avenge”) and Gothic 𐌹𐌽𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (inweitan, “to worship, to greet”).^[4] Feist reconstructs a simple *-weitan "to look" behind them.^[12] The simple verb is found in Old English wītan (“to charge, to blame”), Old Frisian wīta (“to guard”), Old Saxon wītan (“to reproach”) and Old High German wīzan (“to punish, to rebuke”).^[2]

Competing analyses

Holthausen compares the meaning of Latin animadvertō (“to notice; to punish”),^[5] and so does Lehmann, who also points to the same vowel grade in Lithuanian veizdėti (“to see”).^[4] Seebold, on the other hand, rejected the connection with Proto-Indo-European *weyd- and related Old High German firwīzan "to determine someone's debt" to a root *weiə- "to pursue, to approach".^[4] Lehmann objects that Seebold's argument, the lack of a simple Gothic verb, tells against his own root as much as against the other.^[4] Orel cites the same proposal of Seebold as *u̯ei̯H-.^[2]

Meanings

1. to see; to know^[1]
2. to go, to go forth, to part^[1]
3. to punish, to torment^[3][1]
4. to look after; to reproach^[9]

Köbler gives "to see, to know" and "to go" to two other verbs of the same form, *weitan 1 and 2.^[3] In Old English the verb also meant "to observe" and "to ascribe".^[5]

Derivatives

• *wītą "punishment", with Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍄 (fraweit) among its descendants,^[13] and *wītiją "punishment";^[14] Orel writes the latter *wītjan, the source of Old Norse víti, Old English wīte and Old High German wīzi.^[2]
• Orel's *wītan "reproach, disgrace", in Gothic 𐌹𐌳𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍄 (idweit) and Old English edwīt.^[2]
• *wītagōną "to punish, to torment".^[15]

Reflexes

• Gothic: only compounds, 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fraweitan, “to avenge”)^[4]
• Old Norse: víta (“to punish, to fine”), a weak verb^[8]
• Old English: wītan (“to see, to observe; to ascribe; to accuse, to blame”)^[5]
• Old Frisian: wīta (“to guard”)^[2]
• Old Saxon: wītan (“to blame, to reproach”)^[16]
• Old High German: wīzan (“to blame, to hold responsible, to punish”)^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *wītaną
2. ^ a b c d e f g Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 468
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *weitan
4. ^ a b c d e f Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. fra-weit
5. ^ a b c d e Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. wītan
6. ^ Mailhammer, Robert (2007), The Germanic Strong Verbs: Foundations and Development of a New System, Trends in Linguistics 183, Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter, p. 215
7. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. vita
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. vīta
9. ^ a b Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 289
10. ^ Ringe, Don (2017), From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 368
11. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. witan
12. ^ Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. fair-weitjan
13. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *wītą
14. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *wītiją
15. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *wītagōną
16. ^ Tiefenbach, Heinrich (2010), Altsächsisches Handwörterbuch / A Concise Old Saxon Dictionary, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter, p. WITAN
17. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wīzan