wytered

v. (pp.)

Erk imper. witere

'informed' (Modern English )

Etymology

Either formed on the ME adj. witter, which may be from ON, cp. OIcel vitr ‘wise’ (see weterly (adv.) for full discussion), or directly from the ON v. formed on it, cp. OIcel vitra (v.) 'manifest, inform' (Dance 2003: 385, 442-3).

PGmc Ancestor

*wit-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

vitra 'manifest, inform', cp. vitr (adj.) ‘wise’
(ONP vitra (2) (vb.), cp. vitr (adj.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Icel vitra, Norw vitra, OSw vitra

OE Cognate

cp. witran (v.) 'verare, to speak the truth'; wita (n.) ‘wise man’, witan (v.) ‘to know’

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

CC1

Attestation

The v., first cited by MED and OED from LaŹ’amon's Brut and c1225(?c1200) St.Juliana (Bod 34), is much less common than the adj. (see further weterly (adv.)) which is first attested in late OE.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Cl 1587; Erk 185

Bibliography

MED witteren (v.) , OED witter (v.1) , HTOED , Bj. 258, de Vries vitra, Mag. vitra; see further weterly (adv.).