Wirdle solutions week 11
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).
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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! 🤗
pells plural of pell ‘(1) bucket; (2) rag, tuft of matted hair, disreputable person’
History: pell meaning ‘bucket’ comes from Anglo-Norman pae(l)le, pa(i)(e)l(e) ‘pan, bucket’ which itself comes from Old French pa(i)e(l)le, payelle ‘frying pan’, in turn from Latin patella ‘small pan/dish, plate’, of uncertain origin; pell meaning ‘rag, matted tuft of fur, etc’ is more of a mystery. It is only found in the former Norn speaking areas (Shetland, Orkney and Caithness). The ultimate origin is uncertain, but compare the Sw. palta ‘rag’, No., Da. pjalt ‘rag; weak, useless person, coward’. It might be a loan of the Middle Low German palte(r) ‘rag, piece (of cloth)’.
plaet ‘plate’
History: Old Scots had various forms for this word, such as plait(t)(e), plaith, play(i)t, plea(t)t(e), ple(i)t(t)(e), etc. It is a loan of the Anglo-Norman plate, which comes from Medieval Latin plata. That in turn comes from Vulgar Latin *plat(t)us, which had it from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús ‘broad, flat, wide’). It ultimately goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pléth₂us ‘flat, broad’.
kyiss ‘kiss’
History: this is a very old word. The Old English cyssan descends from the Proto-Germanic *kussjan- ‘kiss’, which in turn comes from Proto-Indo-European *kus-ie ‘kiss’. Ultimately it was probably affected by sound symbolism.
trang ‘tight; intimate; pressed; busy’
History: the Old Scots thrang had the sense of ‘trouble, straits, a press or crowd’ (fr. 1375), then ‘crowded, in a mass’ (fr. 1535), ‘busy’ (fr. 1568), and ‘stress of work’ (fr. 1684). The English throng is a cognate. It comes from Old English þrang, ġeþrang ‘crowd, press, tumult’, which is an early loan of the Old Norse þrǫngr ‘narrow, close, crowded, tight’. The Icel. þröngur, BoNo. trang, NyNo. trong, Sw. trång and Da. trang all still mean that. Ultimately it comes from Proto-Germanic *þrangwjaan- ‘to press’ which in turn comes from Proto-Indo-European *tronkʷ-éie- ‘to press’.
poyem ‘poem’
History: Old Scots had poyeme, poyam. It is a loan from Middle French poème, which comes from Latin poēma. That in turn is a loan of the Ancient Greek ποίημα (poíēma), which is a derivation of ποιέω (poiéō ‘to make’). It ultimately comes from Proto-Indo-European *kʷoywós, a derivation of the root *kʷey- ‘to pile, stow, gather’.
sokit ‘soaked’, past participle of sok
History: the Old English socian ‘to soak, steep’ literally meant ‘to let suck up’ and comes from the Proto-Germanic *sukk/gōną ‘to suck’ which in turn comes from Proto-Indo-European *suḱ-néh2 ‘to suck’.
broch ‘pre-historic circular stone fort tower’
History: this is a specifically Scots word. The Old Scots broch, brogh comes from the Old Norse borg ‘castle, fortified place, stronghold, etc’ (which is still the same word in the Scandinavian languages). That in turn came from Proto-Germanic *burg- ‘stronghold, fortified place’ which ultimately came from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- ‘to rise’.
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.
