Wirdle solutions week 1
We're pleased to announce that as of today the Shaetlan Wirdle has 6300 players from 75 countries. Here are the solutions for this week! Scroll for one word at a time to get the correct answer, it's meaning, and the history of the word. Last you'll find the main references we use for the etymologies, and the latest map of players.
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It's important to remember that "Old English" was never a monolithic language, but rather is a cover term for four distinct North Sea Germanic varieties. The direct ancestor of Scots was Northumbrian Old English. The direct ancestor of English was Mercian Old English. But most of the existing data comes from West Saxon Old English. Wherever possible we have given the Northumbrian Old English forms, since the main ancestors of Shaetlan are Norn and Scots (not English), with a lot of Dutch/Low German influence.
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With thanks again to Julie for hatching the idea and to Andrew for making it possible! 🤗
sooth ‘south’
History: from Old Scots south from Old English svþ, sūþ (and similar forms) ‘south’. This is an old word, derived from Proto-Germanic *sunþrą ‘south’, which is a derivational form sun-þraz meaning ‘sun wards’ or ‘the sun side’ from Pre-Germanic *sh₂únt(e)ros ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ ‘sun’.
neeps ‘swedes; turnips’ Plural form of neep ‘swede; turnip’.
History: ultimately a loan from Latin. The Old Scots neip (attested from ca 1470) came from Old English naep ‘turnip’, which might also have referred to ‘rape (Brassica napus)’ and in turn came from Latin nāpus ‘turnip; rape (Brassica napus)’. The origin of the Latin form is uncertain; the suggestion that it came from Ancient Greek nâpu ‘mustard’ is semantically difficult. The Old Norse næpa (> Norwegian nepe) is a loan from Old English.
unkan ‘strange’
History: opposite of kent ‘known, familiar’ (un- + -ken). Old Scots uncow (attested from ca 1500) ‘strange(ly)’. This is an old word, from Old English uncūþ ‘unknown, unfamiliar, strange’ (a derivation of un- ‘negative’ + cūþ ‘known’ (from cunnan ‘to know’)), which in turn is from Proto-Germanic *unkunþaz ‘unknown’ (*un- (from Proto-Indo-European *n̥- ‘not; un-‘) + *kunþaz ‘known’ (from *kunnaną ‘to know’, itself from Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥néh₃ti ‘to know, recognise’, which is derived from *ǵneh₃- ‘to know’)). The Proto-Germanic *unkunþaz is the origin of Old Norse úkunnr ‘unknown, strange’, which is the origin of Icelandic ókunnur ‘strange, unknown; obscure’.
girse ‘grass’
History: Old Scots gyrs, girs(e), gers(e) (attested from ca 1375). This is an old word, Old English graes, gręs, gærs, gears ‘grass’, which comes from Proto-Germanic *grasą ‘grass’, a derivation of *grōaną ‘to grow, to become green’, which in turn comes from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- ‘to grow, to become green’.
athin ‘within’
History: from within, where the first, unstressed, syllable has been weakened. From Old English wiþinnan, wiðinnan, a compound of wiþ ‘against, opposite; along, towards; with’ (from Proto-Germanic *wiþrą- ‘against; toward’, which comes from Proto-Indo-European *wi-teros ‘against, away from; apart’) + innan ‘within; inside, in; indoors’ (from Proto-Germanic *innai ‘within, inside’, the locative form of *in ‘in, into’, which itself derives from Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’)
gyaan ‘going’ the present participle form of go.
History: from Old English gande ‘going’, derived from gān ‘to go’ + -ende ‘present participle’ (from the Proto-Germanic *-andz ‘present participle’ which in turn comes from Proto-Indo-European *-(e/o)nt- ‘adjectiviser’)
showe ‘chew’
History: from chew with the first consonants weakened from an affricate to a fricative (cf. Middle English schewe). This is an old word, from OE ċēowan ‘to chew’, which comes from Proto-Germanic *kewwaną ‘to chew’, which in turn comes from Proto-Indo-European *ǵ(i̯)ewh₁- ‘to chew’.
References:
Bokmålsordboka. 2022. Språkrådet og Universitetet i Bergen. Available at http://ordbøkene.no.
Christie-Johnston, Alastair & Adaline Christie-Johnston. 2014. Shetland words. A dictionary of the Shetland dialect. Lerwick: The Shetland Times.
de Vaan, Michiel. 2008. Etymological dictionary of Latin and the other Italic languages. Leiden, Boston: Brill
de Vries, Jan. 1977. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Leiden: Brill.
DSL Online. 2002. Glasgow: The University of Glasgow. Available at https://dsl.ac.uk/.
Heggestad, Leiv, Finn Hødnebø & Erik Simensen. 1993. Norrøn ordbok. 4th edn of Gamalnorsk ordbok. Oslo: Det norske samlaget.
Hellquist, Elof. 1993. Svensk etymologisk ordbok. 3rd edn. 2 Vols. Malmö: Gleerups.
Jakobsen, Jakob. 1985 [1928]. An etymological dictionary of the Norn language in Shetland. Lerwick: The Shetland Times.
Kroonen, Guus. 2013. Etymological dictionary of Proto-Germanic. Leiden: Brill.
Lehmann, Winfred P. 1986. A Gothic etymological dictionary. Leiden: Brill.
Macbain, Alexander. 1911. An etymological dictionary of the Gaelic language. Stirling: Eneas Mackay.
Marwick, Hugh. 1929. The Orkney Norn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Matasović, Ranko. 2009. Etymological dictionary of Proto-Celtic. Leiden: Brill.
Nielsen, Niels Åge. 1995. Dansk etymologisk ordbog. Ordenes historie. 4th edn. København: Gyldendal.
Nynorskordboka. 2022. Språkrådet og Universitetet i Bergen. Available at http://ordbøkene.no.
OED Online. 2021. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available at https://www-oed-com.ezproxy.uni-giessen.de.
Orel, Vladimir. 2003. A handbook of Germanic etymology. Leiden: Brill.
Pfeifer, Wolfgang (ed.). 1997. Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag.
Pokorny, Julius. 1994. Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 3rd edn. 2 Vols. Tübingen: Francke Verlag.
Torp, Alf. 1919. Nynorsk etymologisk ordbok. Kristiania: Forlaget H. Aschehoug & Co.
Zoëga, Geir T. 1896. English-Icelandic dictionary. Reykjavík: Sigurður Kristjánsson.
Zoëga, Geir T. 1922. Icelandic-English dictionary. 2nd edn, enlarged. Reykjavík: Sigurður Kristjánsson.
