winter English · revision 2828

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 725, Beowulf|origins=gem-pro *wintruz}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈwɪn.tə/, US /ˈwɪn.t̬ɚ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|winter]],^(MWU 2024) [[inh|ang|winter]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[gem-pro|*wintruz]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) which is of uncertain origin.^(Etymonline) Barnhart, Hoad and Word Origins derive it from a nasalized form of [[ine-pro|*wed-|t=to be wet]], the root of [[wet]] and [[water]], so that winter would be “the wet season”.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Cresswell 2021) Boutkan, cited by Etymonline, considers two other old proposals possible: the root of [[wind]], “the windy season”, or a cognate of Gaulish vindo- and Old Irish find “white”, “the white season”.^(Etymonline) The usual Proto-Indo-European word for the season was [[ine-pro|*gheim-]].^(Etymonline) It is cognate with Old Frisian winter, Old Saxon and Old High German wintar, German Winter, Old Norse vetr and Gothic wintrus.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The fourth and coldest season of the year: Old English, about 725 in ''Beowulf'',^(Barnhart 1988) with the OED's first example from about 888.^(OED 1989) Old English winter also meant a year.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The Anglo-Saxons counted years in winters, as in anwintre “one year old”,^(Etymonline) and the use of ''winters'' for years of age survived (before 900 in the OED).^(OED 1989) As an adjective, “of winter”, it goes back to Old English, and of crops that stand through the winter, as ''winter wheat'', to the late 14th century.^(Etymonline) Figuratively, a time of old age or affliction is from 1590.^(OED 1989) Shakespeare's “Now is the winter of our discontent” in ''Richard III'' gave the British name ''winter of discontent'' for the strikes of 1978–79.^(Cresswell 2021) The verb, “to pass the winter”, is from 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible,^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) at first translating Latin hiemāre and hībernāre.^(SOED 2002) ''Wintry'' is from 1590, in Spenser's ''Faerie Queene'', a new formation, though Old English had wintrig.^(Barnhart 1988) ''Winterize'' is from 1934.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 725 – Old English winter, the season; a year.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * late 14th century – of crops sown before winter.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1382 – verb, to spend the winter.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1590 – figurative, old age or affliction.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1590 – ''wintry''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1934 – ''winterize''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The coldest season of the year, between [[autumn]] and [[spring]]; in the northern hemisphere usually December, January and February.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(literary)'' A year, especially of a person's age: ''a man of seventy winters''.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # A time of [[decline]], hardship or old age.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To spend the winter in a place.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To keep or feed animals or plants during the winter.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of, for or happening in winter.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Of a crop, sown in autumn and harvested the next spring or summer: ''winter wheat''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[winterish]]

+ * [[winterer]]

+ * [[winterishly]]

+ * [[winterless]]

+ * [[overwinter]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[wintry]]

+ * [[wet]]

+ * [[water]]

+ * [[wind]]

+ * [[hibernate]]

+ * [[summer]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}