Monday, April 27, 2015

A-to-Z Challenge: W

We’re in the home stretch now! I’m suddenly feeling revitalized! So here’s wilt!



Wilt is fairly recent in that it showed up in the late seventeenth century. Amusingly enough, it comes from another English word that we don’t have anymore, welk. No, not whelk. This welk meant wilt, so I’m pretty sure. Anyway, welk comes from the Middle Dutch/Middle Low German word welkan, which is to wither and likely related to the Old High German irwelhen, become soft. Before that we’re back to Proto Germanic, where it’s welk again (fluctuating levels of complication; that’s language for you), and even earlier, it’s the Proto Indo European welg, which means wet (no, no idea how/why that switched). There’s also another word in English that comes from welg: welkin, meaning sky, which I never heard of before. Awesome points to anyone who can use that in a sentence and not sound ridiculous.

Sources
Online Etymology Dictionary
Dictionary.com
University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center
University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language
Encyclopaedia Britannica
University College London’s page on the History of the Dutch Language
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9 comments:

  1. Alex J. CavanaughApril 27, 2015 at 5:49 AM

    Blue welkin today, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chrys FeyApril 27, 2015 at 11:15 AM

    It's sad that some words (like welk) die out.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Susan Gourley/KelleyApril 27, 2015 at 1:23 PM

    So strange that the word showed up so late. What did they call it before then?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Andrew LeonApril 27, 2015 at 1:37 PM

    I think I've seen welkin before...
    bah
    Now, I'm going to have to go look.

    ReplyDelete
  5. William KendallApril 27, 2015 at 5:08 PM

    I think the only time welk is used anymore is for that dead Lawrence Welk fellow.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Liz A.April 27, 2015 at 9:40 PM

    I'm pretty sure I've seen welkin before, but I think it was in a fantasy setting, and I don't remember how it was used.

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  7. bettyApril 27, 2015 at 10:17 PM

    We may have wilted during parts of the challenge, but we are remaining victorious, cruising to the end!

    betty

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  8. Nick WilfordApril 27, 2015 at 11:47 PM

    Well, things are more likely to wither and wilt in the wet, and if these words originated in the British Isles and mainland Europe, the welkin is cloudy and rainy most of the time. It's adding up for me. Mind you, they wilt in extreme heat too - hmm...

    Glad you're not wilting in the last few days, but it'll be interesting to see your X. I'm sitting here staring at my dictionary which literally has 20 words for x, and I don't have a story for any of them...

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  9. Tasha Duncan-DrakeApril 28, 2015 at 5:00 AM

    Nope, can't use welkin in a sentence without sounding like a loon, sorry ;) Language is so complex!
    Tasha
    Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)

    ReplyDelete

Please validate me.

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