An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Wittib

by Friedrich Kluge

Wittib (with a normal b), Witwe, feminine, ‘widow,’ from the equivalent Middle High German witewe, witwe, Old High German wituwa (witawa), feminine; common to Teutonic and Aryan. Compare Gothic widuwô, Old Saxon widowa, Dutch weduwe, Anglo-Saxon wuduwe, widewe, English widow. Corresponding to Irish fedb, Latin vidua, San. vidhávâ, Old Slovenian vĭdova. The primitively Aryan form widhéwâ (widhowâ), feminine, ‘widow,’ implied in these words seems to be an old formation from an Aryan root widh, Sanscrit root vidh, ‘to become empty, be faulty’; compare Greek ἠίθεος, ‘single, unmarried.’ The designations for Witwer, ‘widower,’ are recent derivatives of the feminine form (compare Schwieger); compare Old High German wituwo, Middle High German witwœre, from which a new feminine could be ultimately formed (Middle High German witwerinne); compare Modern High German Witmann (hence Witfrau). Modern High German Waise, ‘orphan,’ is perhaps connected with the same Aryan root widh.