eldertongue

Old English · noun

wyrd

Part of speech
noun, feminine
Declension
strong i-stem
IPA
/wyrd/
[wyrˠd]
Syllables
wyrd (1 syllable)
Modern English
fateweardwerdwyrdfatesweirddestinyoccurrence

Meaning

  1. fate, destiny

    Gǣð ā wyrd swā hīo sċel.

    Fate always goes as it must.

    Beowulf, line 455b

  2. the Fates

  3. event, occurrence

    late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' Metres of Boethius, lines 226-238

    Nor needs any man expect that event: the vile flesh, the mind of any man, altogether to it should ever turn; but the vices of every mind and the thoughts of every man do lead the body whitherever it will.

Declension

Declension of wyrd
SingularPlural
Nominative wyrdwyrdewyrda
Accusative wyrdwyrdewyrdewyrda
Genitive wyrdewyrda
Dative wyrdewyrdum

All forms (4)

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wurdi, from Proto-Germanic *wurdiz, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥ti-, a verbal abstract from the root *wert- (“to turn”). Related to Latin vertere, the Old English verb weorþan (“to grow into, become”), Dutch worden, German werden. Cognate with Old Saxon wurd, Old High German wurt, Old Norse urðr (“fate”) (Old Norse Urðr (“one of 3 norns”)).

Descendants

weard, weird, werd, wyrd

Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wyrd · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution