Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/400

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Verweis, m., ‘reprimand, censure,’ from the equiv. late MidHG. verwîȥ, m.; allied to verweisen, from MidHG. verwîȥen, OHG. firwîȥan, str. vb., ‘to reprimand, censure.’ Comp. Du. verwijt, n., ‘reprimand,’ and verwijten, ‘to reproach, upbraid,’ Goth. fraweitan, ‘to revenge. The meaning ‘to punish ‘also belonged to the simple stem, as is shown by OSax. wîti, OHG. wîȥȥi (wîzzi), MidHG. wîȥe (wîtze), n., ‘punishment, tortures of hell.’ The Teut. root wī̆t, ‘to punish,’ is based on the common Aryan root wid, ‘to see,’ on which are based Lat. videre, Gr. ἰδεῖν (for further cognates of this root see wissen); comp. Goth. faírweitjan, ‘to look around,’ and witan, ‘to observe.’ The development of meaning is usually compared with that of Lat. animadvertere, ‘to perceive, punish.’ Hence Verweis is not directly connected with weisen; to the latter verweisen, ‘to misdirect’ (obsolete), is allied. —

verwesen, vb., ‘to decay, rot,’ from MidHG. verwësen (OHG. *firwësan), str. vb., ‘to come to nothing, pass away, destroy.’ Comp. Goth. frawisan, ‘to consume, waste, squander’ (note frawaírþan, ‘to be destroyed’). However clearly these seem to point to a connection with Wesen (root wës, ‘to be’), yet OHG. wësanên, ‘to get dry, rotten,’ OIc. visenn, ‘faded, decayed,’ and AS. weornían, ‘to destroy,’ suggest a Teut. and Aryan root wī̆s, ‘to decay,’ from which Gr. ἰός, Lat. virus (for *visus), Sans. viša, ‘poison,’ are derived. —

Verweser, m., ‘administrator, manager,’ cannot of course be derived from the preceding word; it belongs to MidHG. verwësen, ‘to manage, provide, look after’; Goth. *faúrawisan, ‘to manage,’ recalls Goth. *faúragaggja, ‘steward’ (lit. ‘predecessor’); thus the prefixes ver- of the two MidHG. words verwësen are of different origin.

verwichen, partic., ‘past, late, former,’ from verweichen.

verwirren, see wirr.

verwittern, vb., ‘to decompose, decay,’ ModHG. only. Allied to E. ‘to wither,’ from MidE. widren, ‘to wither, vanish’; also primitively to Lith. výstu (výsti), ‘to wither,’ pavaitínti, ‘to cause to wither.’

verzeihen, vb., ‘to pardon, excuse,’ from the equiv. MidHG. verzîhen, which usually means ‘to deny, refuse,’ then ‘to renounce, abandon.’ To this Verzicht and verzichten are allied.

Vesper, f., ‘vespers, evening,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vësper, OHG. vëspera, f.,

which was adopted contemporaneously with monastic institutions (comp. Mette and None), from Lat. vespera (whence also Ital. vespro, Fr. vêpre). The primit. kinship of the Lat. with the MidHG. and OHG. word is inconceivable, because the correspondence of Lat. v with OHG. v (f) is found only in OHG. loan-words (see Vogt and Käfig).

Vettel, f., ‘slut,’ from late MidHG. vëtel, f.; formed from the equiv. Lat. vetula.

Vetter, m., ‘cousin,’ from MidHG. vęter, vętere, m., ‘father's brother, brother's son,’ OHG. fętiro, faterro, fatureo, m., ‘uncle’; for the change of meanings comp. Neffe and Oheim. The earlier meaning is ‘father's brother,’ as is indicated by the clear connection with Vater, by AS. fœdera, ‘uncle’ (with faðu, ‘aunt’), and also by the non-Teut. correspondences which point to Aryan paturyo-, patrwyo-, ‘uncle on the father's side.’ Comp. Lat. patruus, Gr. πάτρως (from *πάτραος), Sans. pîtṛvya, Zend tûirya (from *ptûrya), ‘fathers brother.’ In ModHG. dialects Vetter has acquired the signification of Pfetter, ‘sponsor, godfather’ (MidHG. pfętter, equiv. to Ital. patrino, see Pate), perhaps by connecting it with Gevatter.

Vieh, n., ‘cattle, beast,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vihe, vëhe (with the dial. variant vich, ModHG. Viech), OHG. fihu, fëhu, n. The word is common to Teut. and Aryan; comp. Goth. faíhu, AS. feoh, Du. vee, ‘cattle.’ Corresponding to the equiv. Sans. paçu, Lat. pecu, pecus, which point to Aryan péku, ‘cattle.’ The word was probably applied originally only to domestic cattle (comp. also Tier, Mann), for Sans. paçu has the special sense ‘flock,’ and Lat. pecus, ‘small cattle, sheep.’ Hence it is easily explicable how the word acquired in several groups the meanings ‘goods, possession, money’ (concerning the system of barter comp. also Schaf); comp. Lat. pecûlium, ‘property,’ pecûnia, ‘property, money,’ Goth. faíhu, ‘money,’ AS. feoh, ‘cattle, money,’ E. fee.

viel, adv. and adj., ‘much,’ from the equiv. MidHG. vil, vile, OHG. filu, subst. and adv.; properly the neut. of a pre-Teut. adj. felu-, of which, however, the OTeut. dialects have preserved only scanty relics; comp. Goth. filu (and the gen. filaus, adv., ‘by much’), AS. feolu (feala), Du. veel, OSax. filu, ‘much.’ The Teut. adj.