English
whey
Whey comes from Middle English whey ‘the leftovers from milk curdled during…’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *hwaij.
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hwaijreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hwǣġ
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500whey‘the leftovers from milk curdled during cheesemaking’
- Englishearliest quotation 1805whey
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hwaijreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hwǣġ
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500whey‘the leftovers from milk curdled during cheesemaking’
- Englishearliest quotation 1805whey
Earliest quotation: 1805, Songs for the Nursery: “Little Miss Muffet, She sat on a tuffet, Eating…”
The story
From Middle English whey, wheye, whei, from Old English hwǣġ, hwæiġ, hwæġ, hweġ (‘whey’), from Proto-West Germanic *hwaij (‘whey’) (cognate with Saterland Frisian Waai, Woaie, West Frisian waai, Dutch wei, Low German Wei, German Low German Wei), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- (‘to pile up, build’) (compare Old Church Slavonic чинъ (činŭ, “order”), Ancient Greek ποιέω (poiéō, “to pile up, make”), Sanskrit कय (káya, “every one”)).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- ‘to pile up, build’
pain, penalty, poetry, punishment, poem, poet, pine, punish, titanium, penal, punitive, subpoena, impunity, onomatopoeia, 22 more
through Middle English whey ‘the leftovers from milk curdled during…’
Today it means
noun The liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained in the process of making cheese.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *hwaij / whey