eldertongue

Old English · noun

wyrm

Part of speech
noun, masculine
Declension
strong i-stem
IPA
/wyrm/
[wyrˠm]
Syllables
wyrm (1 syllable)
Modern English
wyrmcrawlinggrubwormreptilemaggotexetersnake

Meaning

  1. any crawling animal, especially

  2. any crawling animal, especially:; worm

  3. maggot, grub

  4. insect

  5. Exeter Book, riddle 40

    oþþe unlȳtel lēades clympre, lēohtre iċ eom micle þonne þēs lȳtla wyrm þe hēr on flōde gǣð fōtum dryġe.

    I am much heavier than the gray stone or an un-little clump of lead, I am much lighter than this little bug that walks here on the water with dry feet

    Hefiġere iċ eom micle þonne sē hāra stān

  6. reptile, especially a snake

  7. late 9th century, translation of Orosius’ History Against the Pagans

    ...for þon hit is nǣdrena ġecynd þæt heora mǣġen ⁊ hiera fēþe bið on heora ribbum swā ōþerra crēopendra wyrma bið on heora fōtum.

    ...for it is the class of snakes whose movement is on their ribs, just as the motion of other creeping reptiles is with their feet.

  8. dragon

Declension

Declension of wyrm
SingularPlural
Nominative wyrmwyrmas
Accusative wyrmwyrmas
Genitive wyrmeswyrma
Dative wyrmewyrmum

All forms (6)

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *wurmi, from Proto-Germanic *wurmiz (“worm, serpent, snake”), from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis (“worm”). Cognate with Old Frisian wirm, Old Saxon wurm, Old High German wurm, Old Norse ormr, and Gothic (waurms). The Indo-European root is also the source of Latin vermis (“worm”), Lithuanian varmas (“midge”), Old East Slavic вермие (vermije, “locusts, worms”), and Ancient Greek ῥόμος (rhómos, “earthworm”).

Descendants

worm, wyrm

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