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#184780 05/14/09 04:54 PM
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I wonder.... Is 'wend' related to 'wander'?

M. McQuoid #184786 05/14/09 07:52 PM
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It's that you ask about it. I had already looked it up on Online Etymology:
> link Online Etymology
as I was wondering about the relation with "to wind"
'That long and winding road that leads etc.'

wend "to proceed on," O.E. wendan "to turn, go," from P.Gmc. *wandijanan (cf. O.S. wendian, O.N. venda, O.Fris. wenda, Du. wenden, Ger. wenden, Goth. wandjan "to turn"), causative of O.E. windan "to turn, twist" (see


wind (v.)), from base *wand-, *wend- "turn." Surviving only in to wend one's way, and in hijacked past tense form went.

wind (v.)
"move by turning and twisting," O.E. windan "to turn, twist, wind" (class III strong verb; past tense wand, pp. wunden), from P.Gmc. *wendanan (cf. O.S. windan, O.N. vinda, O.Fris. winda, Du. winden, O.H.G. wintan, Ger. winden, Goth. windan "to wind"), from PIE *wendh- "to turn, wind, weave" (cf. L. viere "twist, plait, weave," vincire "bind," Lith. vyti "twist, wind"). Related to wend, which is its causative form, and to wander. Wind down "come to a conclusion" is recorded from 1952; wind up "come to a conclusion" is from 1825. Winding sheet "shroud of a corpse" is attested from c.1420.

Last edited by BranShea; 05/14/09 08:06 PM.
BranShea #184793 05/14/09 10:48 PM
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I always think of wend as meaning to meander, to wander, to go slowly.

nsilverrod #184797 05/15/09 05:35 AM
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Yes, welcome and so to MC Quoid. That's what made me associate it with that long and winding road. Wenden is a Dutch verb meaning a moderate change of direction.

It's used in a figurative way as "wenden en keren".
Context: "whichever way you wendt and turn it, it can't be done."

BranShea #184802 05/15/09 12:40 PM
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The suppletive past tense of the English verb go, went, was originally the past tense (and past participle) of the verb wend < Old English wendan. The Old English past tense of gān 'to go' was eōde (link). This was also a case of paradigmatic suppletion. This other root for 'to go' was related to the Latin , īre. To make matter curiouser, the PIE root for go *ghē- (link) yields Sanskrit √ gam 'to go', gacchati 's/he goes', but Latin veniō and Greek βαινω (bainō) both with the meaning come.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
BranShea #184808 05/15/09 04:15 PM
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Originally Posted By: BranShea
Yes, welcome and so to MC Quoid. That's what made me associate it with that long and winding road. Wenden is a Dutch verb meaning a moderate change of direction.

It's used in a figurative way as "wenden en keren".
Context: "whichever way you wendt and turn it, it can't be done."


It's an extremely poetic and colorful word.
Welcome McQuoid.


----please, draw me a sheep----
LukeJavan8 #184891 05/22/09 04:35 PM
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"wend" was the causative of "wind", just like "set" was the causative of "sit", "raise" was the causative of "rise", and "lay" was the causative of "lie".

goofy #184893 05/22/09 05:05 PM
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Ah, the old "lie, lay, lain" business: shades of elementary school.


----please, draw me a sheep----

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