English
wold
Wold 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. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1606wold
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
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. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1606wold
Earliest quotation: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of King Lear: “Saint Withold footed thrice the ’old; He met the…”
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 An unforested or deforested plain, a grassland, a moor.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *walþuz / wold