Etymograph

English

walleyed

Walleyed comes from Middle English wawil-eghed ‘having very light-colored eyes’, from Old Norse vagl ‘speck or beam in the eye’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to bring’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵʰ-‘to bring’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*woǵʰlosreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wag(a)lazreconstructed
  4. Old Norsec. 800–1350vagl‘speck or beam in the eye’
  5. Old Norse, derivedc. 800–1350vagl-eygr‘having speckled eyes’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wawil-eghed‘having very light-colored eyes’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596walleyed

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵʰ-‘to bring’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*woǵʰlosreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wag(a)lazreconstructed
  4. Old Norsec. 800–1350vagl‘speck or beam in the eye’
  5. Old Norse, derivedc. 800–1350vagl-eygr‘having speckled eyes’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wawil-eghed‘having very light-colored eyes’
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596walleyed

Earliest quotation: c. 1596, William Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King Iohn: “[…] this is the bloodiest shame, The wildest savagery,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to bring’

way, always, via, vehicle, wave, reveal, vector, weigh, wee, vein, vogue, halfway, wagon, veil, wedge, venous, headway, vex, wonky, eunuch, wag, vena, invective, velar, wey, wain, waw, 39 more

Today it means

adj Having eyes with a pale-coloured iris.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- / walleyed

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