witting (adj.)

"aware," mid-14c. (implied in wytindeliche (adv.)), present-participle adjective from wit (v.). Related: Wittingly.

Entries linking to witting

"to know" (archaic), Old English witan (past tense wast, past participle witen) "to know, beware of or conscious of, understand, observe, ascertain, learn," from Proto-Germanic *witanan "to have seen," hence "to know" (source also of Old Saxon witan, Old Norse vita, Old Frisian wita, Middle Dutch, Dutch weten, Old High German wizzan, German wissen, Gothic witan "to know"), from PIE root *weid- "to see." The phrase to wit, almost the only surviving use of the verb, is first recorded 1570s, from earlier that is to wit (mid-14c.), probably a loan-translation of Anglo-French cestasavoir, used to render Latin videlicet (see viz.).

unwitting (adj.)

late 14c., altered from or re-formed to replace unwitand, from Old English unwitende "ignorant," from un- (1) "not" + witting (adj.); see -ing (2). Similar formation in Old High German unwizzanti, German unwissend, Old Norse uvitandi, Gothic unwitands. Rare after c. 1600; revived c. 1800. Related: Unwittingly.

*weid-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to see."

It forms all or part of: advice; advise; belvedere; clairvoyant; deja vu; Druid; eidetic; eidolon; envy; evident; guide; guidon; guise; guy (n.1) "small rope, chain, wire;" Gwendolyn; Hades; history; idea; ideo-; idol; idyll; improvisation; improvise; interview; invidious; kaleidoscope; -oid; penguin; polyhistor; prevision; provide; providence; prudent; purvey; purview; review; revise; Rig Veda; story (n.1) "connected account or narration of some happening;" supervise; survey; twit; unwitting; Veda; vide; view; visa; visage; vision; visit; visor; vista; voyeur; wise (adj.) "learned, sagacious, cunning;" wise (n.) "way of proceeding, manner;" wisdom; wiseacre; wit (n.) "mental capacity;" wit (v.) "to know;" witenagemot; witting; wot.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit veda "I know;" Avestan vaeda "I know;" Greek oida, Doric woida "I know," idein "to see;" Old Irish fis "vision," find "white," i.e. "clearly seen," fiuss "knowledge;" Welsh gwyn, Gaulish vindos, Breton gwenn "white;" Gothic, Old Swedish, Old English witan "to know;" Gothic weitan "to see;" English wise, German wissen "to know;" Lithuanian vysti "to see;" Bulgarian vidya "I see;" Polish widzieć "to see," wiedzieć "to know;" Russian videt' "to see," vest' "news," Old Russian vedat' "to know."

Trends of witting

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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conscious

c. 1600, "knowing, privy to" (poetic), from Latin conscius "knowing, aware," from conscire "be (mutually) aware," from assimilated form of com "with," or "thoroughly" (see con-) + scire "to know" (see science). The Latin word probably is a loan-translation of Greek syneidos. The

disorder

late 15c. (Caxton), "destroy or derange the order of, throw into confusion," from dis- "not" (see dis-) + order (v.). Replaced earlier disordeine (mid-14c.), from Old French desordainer, from Medieval Latin disordinare "throw into disorder," from Latin dis- + ordinare "to order,

organization

early 15c., organisacioun, "structure of the body or its parts;" mid-15c., "act or process of organizing, the arranging of parts in an organic whole" from Medieval Latin organizationem (nominative organizatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of organizare, from Latin or

brunette

of a woman, "dark in complexion, having a brownish tone to the skin and hair," 1660s, from French brunette, fem. of brunet, from Old French brunet "brownish, brown-haired, dark-complexioned," fem. diminutive of brun "brown" (12c.), of West Germanic origin, from Proto-Germanic *br

abstract

late 14c., originally in grammar (in reference to nouns that do not name concrete things), from Latin abstractus "drawn away," past participle of abstrahere "to drag away, detach, pull away, divert," also used figuratively; from assimilated form of ab "off, away from" (see ab-) +

superstition

early 13c., supersticioun, "false religious belief or system, worship of pagan gods; ignorant fear of the unknown and mysterious, irrational faith in supernatural powers," from Latin superstitionem (nominative superstitio) "prophecy, soothsaying; dread of the supernatural, excess

inexorable

"unyielding, unrelenting," 1550s, from French inexorable and directly from Latin inexorabilis "that cannot be moved by entreaty, unyielding," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + exorabilis "able to be entreated," from exorare "to prevail upon," from ex "out" (see ex-) + ō

orange

late 14c., in reference to the fruit of the orange tree (late 13c. as a surname), from Old French orange, orenge (12c., Modern French orange), from Medieval Latin pomum de orenge, from Italian arancia, originally narancia (Venetian naranza), an alteration of Arabic naranj, from P

finance

c. 1400, "an end, settlement, retribution," from Old French finance "end, ending; pardon, remission; payment, expense; settlement of a debt" (13c.), noun of action from finer "to end, settle a dispute or debt," from fin (see fine (n.)). Compare Medieval Latin finis "a payment in

consistency

1590s, "firmness of matter," from Medieval Latin consistentia literally "a standing together," or directly from Latin consistentem (nominative consistens), present participle of consistere "to stand firm, take a standing position, stop, halt," from assimilated form of

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updated on September 28, 2017

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