Wirdle solutions week 4
We're pleased to announce that as of today the Shaetlan Wirdle has 9800 players from 83 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! 🤗
naems ‘names’ plural of naem ‘name’
History: this is a very old word. Old Scots has naem(e) ‘name’ which comes from Old English nama, noma, which in turn comes from Proto-Germanic *namô ‘name’. The Proto-Indo-European reconstruction is debated, because of how the word looks in Hittite (lāman), Armenian (anun), Greek (ὄνομα [ónoma]), and Tocharian (ñom/ñem), but most sources favour *(h₁)nómn̥/*h₃néh₃mn̥ ‘name’.
efter ‘after’
History: this is an old word. Old Scots has efter, eftir (attested from 1375) from Old English (a)æft(a)er(r) ‘after; according to’. The Proto-Germanic form *after, *aftiri ‘after, behind’ comes from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó ‘away, off’ + *-teros ‘contrastive adjective suffix’.
lents ‘lengths’ plural of lent ‘length’
History: this word was derived in Proto-Germanic times. Old Scots has lent(h), laint(h), etc from Old English lęngðu ‘length’, which in turn is from Proto-Germanic *lanʒiþō ‘length’. This word is a derivation of *lanʒaz ‘long’ (from Proto-Indo-European *dlongʰos ‘long’) + the nominalising suffix *-iþō (from Proto-Indo-European *-iteh₂ *-teh₂, which had the same function). For more about the “th”-sounds in Shaetlan, see our post from 23 October 2021.
sarks ‘shirt’ plural of sark ‘shirt’
History: this is an old common Germanic word. Old Scots sark, serk (attested form ca 1400) comes from Old English s(i)ęrc(e), syrce ‘shirt; undergarment’, which is inherited from Proto-West-Germanic *sarki ‘shirt’. The Proto-Germanic *sarkiz ‘shirt; coat of mail’ is the common ancestor for both the Old English word and the Old Norse serkr ‘shirt, undergarment’. The further etymology of the Germanic word is uncertain, but some suggest that it goes back to the Proto-Indo-European *ser ‘to bind, tie (together); a thread’.
shaad ‘showed’ past tense of shaa ‘show’
History: the Old English sceauia, sceowia, scawian still had the original meaning of ‘to look at, watch; to examine’ from Proto-Germanic *skawwōną/*skawòjanan ‘to look, see, watch, observe’, which in turn came from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewh₁- ‘to perceive, observe’. At some point in late Old English or early Middle English the meaning started to shift to ‘to cause to be seen’. There is no evidence for this development before 1150. This meaning is unique for the descendants of the Old English varieties and is not found in any other Germanic languages.
toarn ‘torn’ past participle of tear ‘tear’
History: Old Scots tere, teir, tair, etc comes from Old English teran ‘to tear’ which is inherited from Proto-Germanic *teraną ‘to tear; snatch, pull (off from); tug’. This in turn comes from Proto-Indo-European *der- ‘to split, separate; to tear, crack, shatter’. The Shaetlan past participle form, pronounced /tɔɐrn/ has retained the bisyllabic nature of the original toren.
clipe ‘to tell tales about someone, inform against someone, denounce, report’ (homophonous with clipe ‘slap’)
History: the Old Scots clep(e) (attested ca 1400) and cleip (1513) ‘to name, address, accuse, denounce’, as well as clip, clyp (attested from ca 1500) ‘to call or name’ come from the Old English clipian, cleopian ‘to cry, call (on), appeal to; name’, which in turn come from Proto-Germanic *klipôjan ‘to ring, sound’. Where this word derives from is unclear, but it was possibly onomatopoeic.
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.
