𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃

𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃¹ holy

Forms

𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃 (weihs), an adjective with a-stem inflection.^[1][2] The forms the Wulfila project counts most often are 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌼 (weiham, 20 times), 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰 (weiha, 13), 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌹 (weihai, 12), 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌼𐌼𐌰 (weihamma, 9) and 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌽𐍃 (weihans, 9); the short neuter 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷 (weih) occurs twice and the long 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐍄𐌰 (weihata) once.^[3] Köbler places the two records of weih at Luke 1:49 and Philippians 4:8.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wīhaz (“holy”),^[5][6] the same adjective as Old High German wīh (“holy”).^[7][8] Related nouns are Old Norse vé (“sanctuary”), Old English wīh (“sanctuary, idol”) and Old Saxon wīh (“temple”),^[9] and the root survives in the Old English compound wīgbed (“altar”) and the Old Saxon wīhdag (“holiday”).^[8] Kroonen derives it from Proto-Indo-European *uéik-o- and compares Latin victima (“sacrificial animal”);^[7] Holthausen too connects the Latin word.^[9] Orel instead derives the adjective from the strong verb *wīxanan (“to fight”), the source of 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌽 (weihan, “to fight”), comparing Lithuanian viẽkas (“life force”) for the meaning.^[6] Uhlenbeck had likewise thought of the root of the verb for fighting, but also reports Osthoff's view that the word first meant "set apart", with the Latin noun.^[10]

Attestation

Köbler counts 89 records, the Wulfila project 115 tokens, 77 of them ambiguous.^[4][3] It occurs in all four Gospels, in most of the Epistles and in the Skeireins, in manuscripts CA, A, B, Car, E, Lat5750 and Speyer; the first reference is Matthew 27:52.^[3] Outside the Bible, Köbler lists the runic inscription of the gold ring of Petrossa, where Krause reads the neuter nominative singular wih.^[4][11] PROIEL aligns it 71 times with Ancient Greek ἅγιος (hágios), once with ὅσιος (hósios) and once with προσφιλής (prosphilḗs);^[12] Köbler adds ἁγνός (hagnós) and ἱερός (hierós).^[4] Matthew 27:53 tells of the dead innatgaggandans in þo weihon baurg, "going into the holy city".^[13]

Meanings

1. holy, sacred (for ἅγιος, also ὅσιος, ἁγνός and ἱερός)^[4][1][5]
2. sanctified, consecrated^[4][14]

Word family

• 𐌿𐍃𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃 (usweihs)
• 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌱𐌰 (weihaba)
• 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰 (weiha)
• 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌽 (weihān)
• 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌽 (gaweihān)
• 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌽𐌰𐌽 (weihnan)
• 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌹𐌸𐌰 (weihiþa)

𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃² village

Forms

𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃 (weihs), a neuter noun of the a-stems, genitive 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃𐌹𐍃 (weihsis).^[1][15] Köbler records 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃𐌰 (weihsa) six times, 𐍅𐌴𐌷𐍃𐌰 (wehsa) three times and 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃 (weihs) and 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐍃𐌹𐍃 (weihsis) once each.^[16] The spelling with e is confined to Mark 8:26, 8:27 and 16:12.^[16][17]

Etymology

The word for the village is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wīhsą (“village, settlement”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyḱ- (“house, settlement”).^[5] Casaretto analyses it as a thematised neuter stem in -iz-, found only in Gothic and probably inherited, from *ueik-es-, first "settlement".^[18] Its cognates outside Germanic include Sanskrit विश् (viś, “village, settlement, tribe”), Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos, “house”) and Latin vīcus (“group of houses, village”).^[5][10] The West Germanic words Old English wīc, Old Frisian wīk, Old Saxon wīc and Old High German wīch are not its cognates: Lehmann takes them as borrowings of the Latin noun,^[17] and Uhlenbeck explains their k in the same way.^[10]

Attestation

Köbler counts eleven records, all in Mark, John and Luke and all in manuscript CA; the Wulfila project's lemma has fourteen tokens, seven of them ambiguous.^[16][3] In canonical order the first is John 7:42.^[16] PROIEL aligns it six times with Ancient Greek κώμη (kṓmē) and four times with ἀγρός (agrós).^[12] Mark 6:6 reads bitauh weihsa bisunjane laisjands, "he went round the villages about, teaching".^[19]

Meanings

1. a village, hamlet, small town (for κώμη)^[16][1][20]
2. the countryside (for ἀγρός)^[20][5]