Etymograph

English

wield

Wield comes from Middle English welden.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500welden
  2. Englishearliest quotation a. 1513wield

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history not traced here.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500welden
  2. Englishearliest quotation a. 1513wield

Earliest quotation: a. 1513, Virgil, VIII, prologue: “All is weill done, God wate, weild he hys…”

The story

Both verbs derive from Proto-West Germanic *waldan and *waldijan, respectively; and are ultimately from Proto-Germanic *waldaną (‘to rule’). The reason for the merger was that in Middle English the -d in the stem made it hard to distinguish between strong and weak forms in the past tense.

Every English word from Middle English welden

Another origin of wield

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂welh₁-‘to rule, be strong’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*waldaną‘to rule’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*waldiz‘power, might, control’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*waldi‘power, might, control’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150*wield‘power, control, dominion’reconstructed
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500welde
  7. Englishtodaywield

Today it means

verb To handle with skill and ease, especially a weapon or tool.

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

Etymograph / Middle English welden / wield

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