Wirdle solutions week 3
We're pleased to announce that as of today the Shaetlan Wirdle has 9300 players from 81 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. You’ll find the principles of our spelling system at Spelling in Shaetlan.
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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! 🤗
sheen ‘to shine’
History: this is an old word which has changed its meaning (shifted semantically) along the way. Old Scots had schene (attested ca 1400) or scheyne (attested ca 1500), which comes from the Old English adjective (descriptive word) sċīene, scí(e)ne, scé(o)ne, scíone, scýne, etc meaning ‘beautiful, fair, bright, brilliant, light’. It started to be used with the meaning ‘to shine’ from the 15th C on, but that is no longer done in Standard English. It ultimately comes from Proto-Germanic *skauniz ‘beautiful, shining’, which in turn comes from Pre-Germanic *skowh₁nis ‘watchable’, which is derived from the Proto-Indo-European verb *(s)kewh₁- ‘to perceive, pay attention’.
squad ‘squad; in Shetland, specifically, group of guizers participating in or performing at an Up Helly Aa festival’
History: this is a fairly young word only attested from the mid-17th C. It’s a loan of the French escouade, ‘squad’, which in turn comes from Italian squadra ‘squad, team; square’, a descendent of Latin ex- ‘out, away’ + quadro ‘I square’, which ultimately derives from quattuor ‘four’. That in turn comes from Proto-Italic *kʷettwōr ‘four’ which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwṓr from *kʷetwóres ‘four’ (this is also the ultimate root of four). In Shetland squad has come to mean especially Up Helly Aa squads.
taats plural of taat ‘matted tuft of fur; (also and specialised:) thick worsted yarn for making rugs’
History: this is a Scandinavian word, but not Shetland specific. Old Scots tat meant ‘matted tuft of hair’ (attested from 1513) and is probable connected to Old English tættec(a) ‘rag’. The word comes from Old Norse þáttr ‘tuft; single strand of rope/twine’, which in turn descends from Proto-Germanic þanhtu- ‘thread’ and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tek- ‘weave, braid’.
nyook ‘corner, nook’
History: this word is a mystery. It is found in Old Scots (no(i)k) and Middle English nok(e) ‘nook, corner, angle’ and is attested from the 14th C, but primarily in northern & north/east midland sources. It is also found in placenames, such as Esthauwenook (attested from 1336) in Nottinghamshire. But the origin of the word is unknown. The Scottish Gaelic niùc ‘corner’ is a loan from Scots.
spoot ‘to spout, squirt; to rush forth, make a quick movement; a razor-clam’
History: this word is a loan from Middle Dutch spoiten, spouten ‘to spout, squirt; inject’ (Modern Dutch spuiten). Old Scots had spoutt, spute etc (attested from the 16th C), and Middle English had spout(e)n, spowt(e) etc (attested from the 17th C). It ultimately comes from Proto-Germanic *spīwatjaną ‘to spit; spout’, which in turn ultimately derives from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ptēiw-/*(s)ptyēw- ‘to spit, to spew’.
skirl ‘to laugh shrilly’
History: this word is related to Norwegian skrella and Swedish skrälla ‘make loud noise’. In Old Scots skirl is attested from 1508 with the meaning ‘to shriek’ and from 1513 with the meaning ‘a scream, yell’. In Middle English skirle is attested from 1400. It’s a metathesis (where two sounds have swapped places) of scrille/skrille‘to scream, shriek, cry out shrilly’. The ultimate origin is Proto-Germanic *skrellanan (imitative).
gaets ‘paths’ plural of gaet ‘path’
History: this is a false friend (a word that sounds/looks the same or very similar, but means something else) with English gate, which also has a different origin. Old Scots gat(e), gait meaning ‘path, way, road’ etc is attested from 1375. It comes from Old Norse gata ‘path, way, road’, which in turn comes from Proto-Germanic *gatwǭ ‘way, road, passage’.
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.
