weue

v. (wk.)

Pe pp. veued

(1) ‘to go, pass, move to and fro; surge, swing; bring; offer, show (honour); give’; (2) ‘to weave, i.e. contrive’

(Modern English )

Etymology

Formally derived from OE, there is neverthess a good case to be made for semantic influence from a related v. of ON derivation on ME weue: (1) Nearly all authorities identify it with ME weven ‘to move; cause to move’ (etc.), as in MED’s senses (1a) 'to move or go from one place to another', (2a) 'to cause (sb. or sth.) to move' and (4a) ‘to yield; give up (sth.); also, give (sth., deference to sb.)’, which most likely derives from OE wǣfan ‘to wrap, clothe’ < PGmc *waiƀjan-. Most commentators now explain this v. as cognate not only with Go biwaibjan ‘to surround’ but also with OIcel veifa ‘to wave, vibrate, pull (trans.)’ (the source of ME wayue), and MDu weiven ‘to swing (intrans.)’, OHG ziweiben ‘to scatter’. The senses of ME weue probably then show the result of influence from ME wayue (< ON veifa), since the two verbs seem often to have been equated (as argued by TG(D) 1032n; see further Dance 2003: 383). This provides an elegant explanation of both the form and sense of weue, though the details of its etymology are often set out slightly differently in the key authorities (MED notably includes derivation from OE wǣfan as a possibility, but also suggests ‘perh. ult. from same OE source as’ its wēven v.1, i.e. OE wefan ‘to weave’ (as at (2))). (2) Less plausibly, Emerson (1922: 402) attempts to derive ME weue here directly from OE wefan ‘to weave; devise, contrive, arrange’ (cp. OIcel vefa, MLG, MDu weven, OHG weban, wepan, < PGmc *weƀan-), arguing that the v. in its literal and extended sense fit both contexts (for the required sense, see BT s.v. wefan sense branch (II) ‘in a more general sense, lit. or fig. to weave, construct, put together, arrange, plan, contrive’ and perh. MED’s sense (6b) ‘to build (a body of experience); weave (a fate); fashion (a judgment), shape’). But though ME weven ‘to weave’ is (rarely) recorded with a wk. past (see MED, OED), it is otherwise conjugated as a str. v. in the Gaw MS.

PGmc Ancestor

(1) *waiƀjan-; (2) *weƀan-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

(1) cp. veifa ‘to wave, vibrate, pull (trans.)’
(ONP (1) veifa (1) and (2) (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

(1) Icel veifa, Norw veiva, Sw veva

OE Cognate

(1) wǣfan ‘to wrap, clothe’; (2) wefan ‘to weave; devise, contrive, arrange’

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

D2

Attestation

(1) MED cites a wide range of occurrences of ME weven ‘to move’ (etc.), from the early 13c. onwards. In sense (4a) (‘to yield; give up (sth.); also, give (sth., deference to sb.)’), the only citations are from Gaw and 1370–2 I am by-wylt (ShropRRC Deed 16329) and a1400(c1300) NHom.(1) John Bapt.(Phys-E). (2) ME wēven ‘to weave’ is common and widespread throughout ME. 

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 1976 2359; Pe 318, 976; Cl 422, 453, 857

On the sense at Pe 976, see further Goll 979n. On the sense at Cl 857, see Anderson 857n.

Bibliography

MED wēven (v.2) , OED weve (v.1) , HTOED , Dance weue; (1) de Vries veif (veifa), Mag. veifa, Orel *waiƀjanan, AEW wǣfan, Bj. 60; (2) MED wēven (v.1) , OED weave (v.1) , Seebold web-a-, Orel *weƀanan, Kroonen *weban-, AEW wefan