Wirdle solutions week 10

We're pleased to announce that as of today the Shaetlan Wirdle has had more than 13,000 players from 92 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 https://www.iheardee.com/english/spelling-in-shaetlan (or in our linktree).

✅

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.

✅

With thanks again to Julie for hatching the idea and to Andrew for making it possible! 🤗

snaad past tense of snaa ‘snow’

History: this is a very old word. The Old English snaw, snāw, snaa ‘snow’ (noun) comes from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz ‘snow’ (noun), which in turn comes from Proto-Indo-European *snóygʷʰos ‘snow’, which is a noun derived from the verb *sneygʷʰ- ‘to snow’ + the suffix‎ *-os (creating action nouns out of verbs). The northern and Scots form snaa is more archaic and reflects the earlier Old English forms, while the Standard English snow reflects a younger version of the word.

snick ‘switch on/off’

History: this word seems to be imitative in its origin. It seems quite young and is found on both sides of the Atlantic with the meaning ‘turn on/off (lights etc)’. It might possibly be related to sneck ‘latch’, which is older, but which is also of obscure origin.

tyoch ‘tough’

History: The Old English tó(c)h meaning ‘tough, tenacious, holding together; pliant; sticky’ evolved via *tǫnh from *tanh which comes from Proto-Germanic *tanhuz/*taŋχuz ‘tough, clinging, holding together’. This in turn ultimately comes from Proto-Indo-European *denḱ- ‘to bite’.

fower ‘four’

History: The Northumbrian Old English forms were feawer, fe(o)u(o)er, feowor, few(o)er, etc. They originate from Proto-Germanic *fedwōr which in turn descends from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwṓr, the neuter form of the word. The original root may have been something like *kʷet(u)-. The initial f- in the Germanic forms is not what we would expect: Proto-Indo-European words starting with kw- usually developed to hw- in Germanic words. The general suggestion is that f- in *fedwōr developed due to influence from the f- in*fimfe ‘five’.

sneet ‘blow the nose’

History: this word will have been reinforced in Shaetlan by the fact that both ancestors had it. The Old Scots snyte ‘to wipe the nose’ is attested from 1586. It derives from Old English snýtan ‘blow the nose’ as well as Old Norse snýta (meaning the same, and the origin of Sw. snyta, No. snyte and Da. snyde, still meaning the same). It was probably snyta or snita in Norn. It ultimately comes from Proto-Germanic *snūtijaną ‘blow the nose’, which is a derivation of *snūtaz ‘snout’ + *-janą ‘suffix creating verbs’.

meids plural of meid ‘landmark (seen from sea)’

History: this word is Shetland specific. It is a Norn word from Old Norse miða ‘to mark a place; to aim’ (cf. Far., Icel. miða ‘to aim, pinpoint, etc’), which itself comes from Proto-Germanic *medja- ‘to aim’.

eenoo ‘just now, at this moment; very soon, directly, etc’

History: this word is found in the entire Scots speaking area and is a fusion of even + now. The meaning of ‘very soon, directly; just now, at this moment, etc’ is attested from no later than 1492.

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.