英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

welter (v.)[welter 词源字典]: "to roll or twist," early 14c., from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German welteren "to roll," from Proto-Germanic *waltijan (cognates: Old English wieltan, Old Norse velta, Old High German walzan "to turn, revolve," German wälzen "to roll," Gothic waltjan "to roll"), from PIE root *wel- (3) "to turn, revolve" (see volvox). Related: Weltered; weltering.[welter etymology, welter origin, 英语词源]
welter (n.): 1590s, "confusion," from welter (v.). The meaning "confused mass" is first recorded 1851.
welterweight (n.): 1831, "heavyweight horseman," later "boxer or wrestler of a certain weight" (1896), from earlier welter "heavyweight horseman or boxer" (1804), possibly from welt (v.) "beat severely" (c. 1400).
... but at the end of the first German mile, Nature gave way, and this excellent mare was obliged to "knock under" to the extraordinary exertions she had made, and to the welter weight she carried, upwards of 13 stone. ["The Sporting Magazine," September 1831]
weltschmerz (n.): "pessimism about life," 1872 (1863 as a German word in English), from German Weltschmerz, coined 1810 by Jean Paul Richter, from Welt "world" (see world) + Schmerz "pain" (see smart (n.)). Popularized in German by Heine.
wen (n.): Old English wenn "a wen, tumor, wart," from Proto-Germanic *wanja- "a swelling" (cognates: Middle Low German wene, Dutch wen, dialectal German Wenne), from PIE *wen- (2) "to beat, wound" (see wound (n.)).
Wenceslas: masc. proper name, from Medieval Latin Venceslaus (modern Czech Vaclav), from Old Czech Veceslavŭ, literally "having greater glory," from Slavic *vetye- "greater" + *-slavu "fame, glory," from PIE *klou-, from root *kle- "to hear" (see listen).
wench (n.): late 13c., wenche "girl, young woman," especially if unmarried, also "female infant," shortened from wenchel "child," also in Middle English "girl, maiden," from Old English wencel, probably related to wancol "unsteady, fickle, weak," from Proto-Germanic *wankila- (cognates: Old Norse vakr "child, weak person," Old High German wanchal "fickle"), from PIE *weng- "to bend, curve" (see wink (v.)).
The wenche is nat dead, but slepith. [Wyclif, Matt. ix:24, c. 1380]
In Middle English occasionally with disparaging suggestion, and secondary sense of "concubine, strumpet" is attested by mid-14c. Also "serving-maid, bondwoman, young woman of a humble class" (late 14c.), a sense retained in the 19c. U.S. South in reference to slave women of any age. In Shakespeare's day a female flax-worker could be a flax-wench, flax-wife, or flax-woman.
wench (v.): "to associate with common women," 1590s, from wench (n.). Related: Wenched; wencher; wenching.
wend (v.): "to proceed on," Old English wendan "to turn, direct, go; convert, translate," from Proto-Germanic *wanjan (cognates: Old Saxon wendian, Old Norse venda, Swedish vända, Old Frisian wenda, Dutch wenden, German wenden, Gothic wandjan "to turn"), causative of PIE *wendh- "to turn, wind, weave" (see wind (v.1)). Surviving only in to wend one's way, and in hijacked past tense form went. Originally weak; strong past participle is from c. 1200.
Wend (n.): member of a Slavic people of eastern Germany, 1610s (implied in Wendish), from German Wende, from Old High German Winida, related to Old English Winedas "Wends," of uncertain origin. Perhaps ultimately from Celtic *vindo- "white," or from PIE *wen-eto- "beloved," from *wen- (1) "to desire." Related: Wendish.
Wendy: as a woman's given name, apparently coined by James M. Barrie ("Peter and Wendy," 1911); it first registers on the U.S. Social Security list of popular baby names in 1936 and was in the top 40 names for girls born in the U.S. from 1965 to 1976
went (v.): past tense of go; originally the strong past tense and past participle of wend (v.). The original past tense forms of wend were wende, wended, but variants wente, went developed from c. 1200 and these then began to replace older past tenses of go. By c. 1500 they were fully employed in that function, and wend was given a new past tense form, wended.
were (v.): Old English wæron (past plural indicative of wesan) and wære (second person singular past indicative); see was. The forms illustrate Verner's Law (named for Danish linguist Karl Verner, 1875), which predicts the "s" to "z" sound shift, and rhotacism, which changed "z" to "r." Wast (second person singular) was formed 1500s on analogy of be/beest, displacing were. An intermediate form, wert, was used in literature 17c.-18c., before were reclaimed the job.
werewolf (n.): late Old English werewulf "person with the power to turn into a wolf," from wer "man, male person" (see virile) + wulf (see wolf (n.); also see here for a short discussion of the mythology). Belief in them was widespread in the Middle Ages. Similar formation in Middle Dutch weerwolf, Old High German werwolf, Swedish varulf. In the ancient Persian calendar, the eighth month (October-November) was Varkazana-, literally "(Month of the) Wolf-Men."
wergeld (n.): "set sum of money as the value of a free man, based on social rank, and paid as compensation for his murder or injury in discharge of punishment or vengeance," Old English wergeld (Anglian, Kentish), wergield (West Saxon), from wer "man" (see virile) + geld "payment, tribute" (see geld (n.)).
Werther: love-lorn hero of Goethe's "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers" ("The Sorrows of Young Werther"), popular and influential short novel published in 1774. His name was used as a type of morbid sentimentality.
Wesleyan (adj.): "pertaining to Wesley," 1771, in reference to John Wesley (1703-1791), founder of Methodism. The surname is from various places in England named West Leigh (or some variant). Related: Wesleyanism.
Wessex: Anglo-Saxon kingdom in southern England, literally "(land of the) West Saxons;" see west + Saxon. Modern use in reference to southwestern England (excluding Cornwall) is from Hardy's novels.
west: Old English west (adv.) "in or toward the west, in a westerly direction," from Proto-Germanic *west- (cognates: Old Norse vestr, Old Frisian, Middle Dutch, Dutch west, Old High German -west, only in compounds, German west), from PIE *wes-, reduced form of *wes-pero- "evening, night" (cognates: Greek hesperos, Latin vesper "evening, west;" see vesper). Compare also High German dialectal abend "west," literally "evening." French ouest, Spanish oeste are from English.

As an adjective from late 14c.; as a noun from late 12c. West used in geopolitical sense from World War I (Britain, France, Italy, as opposed to Germany and Austria-Hungary); as contrast to Communist Russia (later to the Soviet bloc) it is first recorded in 1918. West Coast of the U.S. is from 1850; West End of London is from 1776; West Side of Manhattan is from, 1858. The U.S. West "western states and territories" originally (1790s) meant those just west of the Alleghenies; the sense gradually extended as the country grew. To go west "die" was "common during the Great War" [OED, 2nd ed.], perhaps from Celtic imagery or from the notion of the setting sun. In U.S. use, in a literal sense "emigrate to the western states or territories," from 1830.
West Bank: in reference to the former Jordanian territory west of the River Jordan, 1967.