wan English · revision 39587

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Old English, Beowulf}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /wɒn/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /wɑn/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|wan]] (also [[m|enm|won]], [[m|enm|wane]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) [[inh|ang|wann|t=dark, dusky, livid]] (also [[m|ang|wonn]]).^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Bosworth-Toller) Köbler reconstructs [[gem-pro|*wannaz]], with a possible reflex in Old Frisian, and Heidermanns finds the adjective only in English and Frisian;^(Köbler Germ)^(Heidermanns 1993) the OED says it is not found in the other Germanic languages.^(OED 2026) Its further origin is unknown.^(Hoad 1986)^(ODE 2010)^(Barnhart 1988) According to Etymonline, Boutkan related it to [[ang|wanian|t=to diminish, fade]], the source of [[wane]], the connecting idea being a lack of vivid colour;^(Etymonline) Klein and Weekley compare [[m|ang|wan|t=lacking, deficient]] and [[want]].^(Klein 1966)^(Weekley 1921) Holthausen asked whether it belongs with [[sga|fann]] and [[cy|gwan|t=weak]], and the OED finds a link with these Celtic words and with the verb to wane possible, but sees difficulties in connecting it with [[win]] or [[wound]].^(Holthausen 1934)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Lacking light or lustre; dark, dusky, gloomy: Old English, in ''Beowulf'', where it is also used of the sea.^(OED 2026)^(Bosworth-Toller) Barnhart dates ''Beowulf'' to about 725.^(Barnhart 1988) Bosworth-Toller adds the senses blue-black or livid, swarthy, and dark as a poetic epithet of shade, cloud, night, water and fire.^(Bosworth-Toller)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old English also used the word for an unhealthy leaden colour, especially of wounds, bruised faces and corpses, a sense obsolete by 1655.^(OED 2026) Etymonline explains the shift to "pale" through this want of vivid colour: anything greyish or gloomy-looking could be called ''wan'', including bruises.^(Etymonline) The sense "pallid, unhealthily pale" is found from a1300 in ''Cursor Mundi'' (about 1300 according to Etymonline), and the pair ''pale and wan'' from Chaucer's ''Troilus and Criseyde'' (c. 1374).^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) Etymonline dates its use of the moon and stars to the mid-14th century, the OED to 1601.^(Etymonline)^(OED 2026) The old "dark" sense became poetic and died out by 1591, except of the sea and other waters, where poets kept it until the 19th century;^(OED 2026) Chaucer already called the sea ''wan''.^(OED 2026)^(Weekley 1921) A poetic sense "sad, dismal, deadly" lasted from c. 1440 to 1600.^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) defined the word as "pale, as with sickness; languid of look".^(Johnson 1755) In Scots ballads the old sense survived in ''wan water'', dark or gloomy water, while north Yorkshire and Warwickshire dialect used ''wan'' for pale and sickly.^(Wright 1898) The verb, [[ang|wannian]], meant to grow dark or livid until about 1400; "to grow pale" is recorded from the late 16th century (1578 in Merriam-Webster, 1582 in the OED) and "to make pale" from 1889.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Old English – dark, gloomy, also of the sea (''Beowulf'').^(OED 2026)^(Bosworth-Toller)

+ * Old English – livid, leaden-coloured.^(OED 2026)

+ * Old English – the verb, to grow dark or livid.^(OED 2026)

+ * a1300 – pallid, unhealthily pale;^(OED 2026) about 1300 in Etymonline.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1374 – ''pale and wan'' (Chaucer).^(OED 2026)

+ * mid-14th century – of heavenly bodies;^(Etymonline) 1601 in the OED.^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1440 – sad, dismal, deadly (poetic, obsolete by 1600).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1578 – the verb, to grow pale;^(MWU 2024) 1582 in the OED.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1877 – ''a wan smile''.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1889 – the verb, to make pale.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Unnaturally [[pale]], especially from illness, grief or exhaustion: ''He looked wan after a week in bed.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # Suggesting weakness, sadness or ill health: ''a wan smile''.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # Of light, the moon or stars: [[faint]], dim.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # (poetic, archaic) Dark or gloomy, especially of water.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # (poetic) To make or become pale.^(Collins 2023)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[wanly]]

+ * [[wanness]]

+ * [[wannish]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[wane]]

+ * [[want]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The acronym ''WAN'', a wide area network, is a separate word, recorded from 1983 and formed after ''LAN''.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}