English
weald
Weald comes from Proto-West Germanic *walþu ‘forest’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *walþuz.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*walþuz‘forest’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*walþu‘forest’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150wald
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wald
- Englishearliest quotation 1859weald
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*walþuz‘forest’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*walþu‘forest’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150wald
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wald
- Englishearliest quotation 1859weald
Earliest quotation: 1859, Alfred Tennyson, Guinevere: “[S]he to Almesbury / Fled all night long by…”
The story
Largely displaced by forest.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *wel- ‘to perceive, see’
through Proto-Germanic *walþuz ‘forest’
through Middle English wald
Today it means
noun A forest or wood.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *walþuz / weald