Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/413

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moisten,’ Lett. wélgans, wálgans, ‘moist,’ unless these are more closely allied to AS. wlacu, wlœc, ‘moist.’ From a form *walki, connected with OHG. wëlk, Fr. gauche, ‘left,’ is usually derived.

Welle, f., ‘wave, billow, swell,’ from the equiv. MidHG. wëlle, OHG. wëlla, f.; a word peculiar to HG., but found, however, in the OTeut. vocabulary. It is primit. allied to the equiv. OSlov. vlŭna, Lith. wilnìs, and is based like these on an Aryan root wel, ‘to turn, roll,’ which appears in OHG. wëllan and wallen. Comp. Lat. volvere, Gr. εἴλύειν, ‘to roll,’ as well as Sans. ûrmi, equiv. to OHG. walm, AS. wylm, ‘billow.’

Wels, m., ‘shad’ (fish), from the equiv. late MidHG. wels. Its connection with Walfisch (stem hwalo-) is not impossible, if MidHG. wels is based on OHG. *węlis (from *hwalis-); comp. OHG. węlira, ‘whale.’

welsch, adj., ‘foreign, outlandish (espec. Italian or French),’ from MidHG. węlsch (węlhisch, walhisch), ‘Romance, French, Italian,’ OHG. walhisc, ‘Romance’; a derivative of MidHG. Walch, OHG. Walh, ‘one of the Latin race.’ The corresponding AS. Wealh was applied to the ‘Kelt,’ and this is the lit. meaning of the word (comp. the Keltic tribal name Volcae, on which Teut. Walho- is based; it was applied to the Latin race when they occupied Gaul, which had been formerly inherited by the Kelts. Comp. further Walnuß and the E. local names Wales (AS. Wălas) and Cornwall.

Welt, f., ‘world, society,’ from the equiv. MidHG. wëlt, usually wërlt, werëlt, OHG. wëralt (worolt), f.; the MidHG. and OHG. word has also the earlier signification ‘age, saeculum.’ Comp. OSax. wërold, ‘earthly life, age'; Du. wereld, AS. weorold, worold, E. world, have the ModHG. meaning. The double sense ‘world' and ‘age' can hardly be explained from one primary form; the latter meaning is linked with OIc. ǫld, AS. yld, ‘age'; the former seems to be based on a collective sense, ‘humanity,’ which follows from OLG. ęldi, AS. ylde, OIc. elder, ‘men.’ The first part of the compound (Goth. waír-aldus) is Teut. wër, ‘man, person’ (see Werwolf). Welt, like Himmel and Hölle is peculiar to Teut.

Wende, f., ‘turn, turning-point, change,’ from MidHG. węnde, OHG. węntî, f., ‘boundary, turning back, turn.’ —

Wendeltreppe,

f., ‘winding stairs,’ based on the equiv. late MidHG. węndelstein. —

wenden, vb., ‘to turn, change,’ from MidHG. węnden, OHG. węnten (from *wantjan), wk. vb., ‘to overturn, cause to retrograde, hinder.’ Comp. OSax. węndian, Goth. wandjan, AS. węndan, ‘to turn,’ E. to wend, Du. wenden, ‘to change’; a factitive of winden. Hence auswendig, ‘by heart,’ MidHG. ûȥwęndic, ‘externally, abroad’ (etwas auswendig können is a ModHG. phrase, and is here used in the sense of ‘externally,’ i.e., ‘without looking into a book’); inwendig, ‘internally,’ from MidHG. innęwendec. —

gewandt, adj., ‘skilled, adroit, dexterous,’ from MidHG. gewant, lit. ‘directed to the circumstances, appropriate to the circumstances,’ i.e., ‘constituted somehow or other.’

wenig, adj., ‘little, few,’ from MidHG. wênec, weinec (g), OHG. wênag weinag, adj. As a derivative of the Teut. root wai (see weh and weinen), the adj. signified primarily in OHG. and MidHG. ‘deplorable, lamentable, unfortunate’ (so too Goth. wainags); from ‘unfortunate,’ the MidHG. ‘weak, small, trifling, little’ is derived.

wenn, conj., ‘if, when,’ from MidHG. węnne, wanne; identical with wann. Comp. the following word.

wer, pron., ‘who,’ from MidHG. and OHG. wër (earlier hwër), interr. pron.; the nom. sing. preserves the r as a representative of old s; comp. Goth. hwas, ‘who,’ also AS. hwâ, E. who. The Teut. stem of the interr. pron. was hwa-, hwe-, from Aryan ko, ke, which is found in non-Teut. in Lat. quo-d, Gr. πότερος, (κότερος), Lith. and Sans. kas, ‘who.’ Hence wann, weder, welch, wenn, wie, and wo. Further details belong to grammar.

werben, vb., ‘to sue (for), solicit,’ from MidHG. wërben (wërven), OHG. wërban, wërvan (earlier hwërfan), str. vb., ‘to turn, walk to and fro, strive hard, make an effort, be active, be doing something, accomplish something.’ For the evolution of meaning of ModHG. werben, comp. Lat. ambire. The lit. sense of the Teut. root hwërf is ‘to move to and fro,’ as is shown by Wirbel. Comp. OSax. hwërƀan, ‘to walk to and fro,’ Du. werven, ‘to woo,’ Goth. hwaírban (and hwarbôn), ‘to wander.’ A corresponding Aryan root qerp (kerp) is not found in non-Teut. Comp. Werft (2).

Werd, equiv. to Werder.

werden, vb., ‘to become, grow, get,’