Wirdle solutions week 6
We're pleased to announce that as of today the Shaetlan Wirdle has had more than 11,000 players from 88 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! 🤗
snurt ‘nasal mucus; snuff or burnt wick of a candle’
History: this word is a loan from English with an intensifier r added to it (possibly by analogy to English snort). The Old English word was ġesnot ‘nasal mucus’ which derives from Proto-Germanic *snuttuz/*snuttaz ‘nasal mucus’. Where that comes from is unclear, but might be imitative.
slock ‘slake; extinguish’
History: this word is attested earlier in the Old Scots slok ‘to quench’ (attested 1400) than in the Middle English sloik (1500s). It derives from Old Norse slokinn ‘extinguished’, which is the past participle of sløkkva ‘to extinguish’ and which survives in NyNo. sløkke, Sw. släcka, Da. slukke, all ‘stop burning; be extinguished’. It goes back to Proto-Germanic *slakwjaną ‘to extinguish; quench’ (causative form of *slekwaną ‘to extinguish, go out’), but any further etymology is unknown.
sparl ‘the long lower intestine between stomach and anus; sausage made by stuffing the long lower intestine of a ruminant with chopped meat, fat, spice’
History: this word is Shetland specific. It originates in Old Norse sperðill ‘little pebble of sheep/goat muck’, and is cognate with Icel. sparð ‘sheep’s dropping’ and Far. sperðill ‘the rectum’, but any further etymology unclear.
saand ‘sand’
History: this is a very old word. The Old English sand, sond derives from Proto-Germanic *sanðaz, which itself comes from an earlier form *samdo-/*samðaz ‘sand’. It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sámh₂dʰos ‘sand’, which might be a nominal derivation of *sem- ‘to pour’.
tieve ‘to steal, to commit theft’ verbal derivation of tief ‘thief’
History: this is also a very old word. The northern Old English forms were þæf, þéaf, etc. The word goes back to Proto-Germanic *þeuƀoz ‘thief’, which goes back to pre-Germanic *tewpó- and ultimately comes from Proto-Indo-European *teup-/*toup-/*tup- ‘to crouch (down; also in order to hide)’. For more about the “th”-sounds in Shaetlan, see our post from 23 October 2021.
pairt ‘part’
History: Old Scots had paert, pairte, pairtt, etc from Old English part which originally comes from Latin pars, part- ‘part, portion, lot; etc’ (which in turn comes from Proto-Italic *partis ‘part’), but was then also reinforced by Anglo-Norman part(e), per(te), etc. The ultimate origin might be Proto-Indo-European *per(H)- ‘to sell’.
caald ‘cold’
History: this is also a very old word. The Old English cald comes from Proto-Germanic *kaldaz ‘cold’, which is an adjective derivation of *kalaną ‘to be cold, to freeze’ and ultimately goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gel(ə)- ‘to be cold, to freeze’.
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.
