Etymograph

English

inwit

Inwit comes from Middle English inwit ‘mind, reason, intellect, understanding’, and goes back to Old English *inwitt.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150*inwittreconstructed
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500inwit‘mind, reason, intellect, understanding’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1920same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150*inwittreconstructed
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500inwit‘mind, reason, intellect, understanding’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1920same form

Earliest quotation: 1920, James Joyce: “Speaking to me. They wash and tub and scrub.…”

Formed from in- + wit

Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’

Proto-Germanic *in ‘into’

English in-

Proto-Indo-European *weyd- ‘to see’

…

Proto-Germanic *witją ‘knowledge’

Proto-West Germanic *witi ‘knowledge’

Old English witt ‘mind, sanity, sense, understanding’

Middle English wit ‘mind, sanity’

English wit

Every English word from Old English *inwitt

Today it means

noun Inward knowledge or understanding.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Old English *inwitt / inwit

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