Etymograph

English

wick

Wick comes from Middle English wek ‘fibrous cord drawing fuel to flame of a…’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *weukā ‘flax bundle’.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*weukā‘flax bundle’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150wēoce
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wek‘fibrous cord drawing fuel to flame of a candle, etc.’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1555wick

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*weukā‘flax bundle’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150wēoce
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wek‘fibrous cord drawing fuel to flame of a candle, etc.’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1555wick

Earliest quotation: 1555, Peter Martyr of Angleria [i.e., Of Venemous Apples wherwith They Poyson Theyr Arrowes: “Theſe cordes, they caule Cabuia and Henequen, which are…”

The story

The noun is derived from Middle English wek, weke, wicke (‘fibrous cord drawing fuel to flame of a candle, etc.; material used to make this object’), from Old English wēoce (‘wick’), from Proto-West Germanic *weukā (‘flax bundle; wick’), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *weg- (‘to weave’). It has been suggested that noun etymology 1, noun sense 2 (‘penis’) is derived from Hampton Wick, used as rhyming slang for prick.disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it. If so, that sense should be placed under etymology 2.

Every English word from Proto-West Germanic *weukā

Another origin of wick

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyḱ-‘village’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*weikosreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvīcus‘village’
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wīk‘dwelling, village’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150wīc‘dwelling place, abode, lodging’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wik‘dwelling, home’
  7. Englishtodaywick

Another origin of wick

  1. Old Norsec. 800–1350víkja‘to move, bend, curve’uncertain
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wike‘corner of part of the body’uncertain
  3. Scotsc. 1450–presentwick‘(noun) shot in which a bowl or stone is aimed at another so that one or other is…’uncertain
  4. Englishtodaysame form

Probably borrowed from Scots wick (‘(noun) shot in which a bowl or stone is aimed at another so that one or other is deflected at an angle towards the tee, cannon; (verb) to strike (a bowl or curling stone) in such a manner; to (attempt to) reach the tee in this manner’), The Scots noun is probably derived from Middle English wike, wyke (‘corner of part of the body’); the verb from Old Norse víkja (‘to move, bend, curve; to retreat’): see further at etymology 4.

Another origin of wick

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*wikuncertain
  2. Englishtodaywick

Possibly from Middle English *wik (compare Old English wīc (‘small bay, bight; creek, inlet’)), or from Old Norse vík (‘bay; small creek, inlet’) (in place names; compare *vík (‘angle, bend, corner’), attested in munnvík (‘corner of the mouth’)), from Proto-Germanic *wīkō (‘bay; fjord, inlet’), from Proto-Indo-European *weyg- (‘to bend, turn; to wind’), *weyk- (‘to bend, curve’).

Today it means

noun A braid or bundle of fibre or other porous material (now generally twisted or woven cotton) in a candle, kerosene heater, oil lamp, etc., that draws up a liquid fuel (such as melted tallow or wax, or oil) at one end, to be ignited at the other end to produce a flame.

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

Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *weukā / wick

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