Etymograph

English

wey

Wey comes from Old English wǣġ ‘a weight’, from Proto-West Germanic *wāgu ‘scales’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to move, bring, transport’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵʰ-‘to move, bring, transport’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wēgō‘scales’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wāgu‘scales’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wǣġ‘a weight’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500weie
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1376wey

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵʰ-‘to move, bring, transport’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wēgō‘scales’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wāgu‘scales’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wǣġ‘a weight’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500weie
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1376wey

Earliest quotation: c. 1376, William Langland, The Vision of Piers Plowman: “Than though I hadde this wouke ywonne a weye…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to move, bring, transport’

way, always, via, vehicle, reveal, halfway, vector, wagon, vein, vogue, veil, weigh, wedge, headway, wag, venous, vex, wonky, eunuch, vena, invective, wain, velar, 40 more

through Old English wǣġ ‘a weight’

wave, wee, waw

Today it means

noun An old English measure of weight containing 224 pounds; equivalent to 2 hundredweight.

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

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

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