WENとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

Inherited from 古期英語 -egian, -gian, from Proto-West Germanic *-agōn, *-īgōn; equivalent to -y (adjectival suffix) +‎ -en (infinitival suffix).

The environment where fortition of earlier /ɣ/ to /ɡ/ sometimes seen in this suffix is difficult to specify. Following Ekwall, Jordan and Luick posit that it occurred before the secondarily-stressed verbal endings; d'Ardenne rejects this as not explaining the parallel fortition in witege, variant of witie (“prophet”), she instead suggests it originally occurred in forms where /ɣ/ was directly followed by the coronal stops /d/, /t/, or the fricatives /v/, /z/, and then was analogically extended to words where a vowel intervened. In any case, it was undoubtedly supported by the fortition of /nɣ/ to /nɡ/ seen in e.g. syngen (“to sin”); variants of that word such as synwe are either from varieties where this fortition failed or from a late 古期英語 *synegian.

On the other hand, Brunner doubts that such fortition occured, claiming that the relevant forms are simply instances of the Early 中期英語 use of ⟨g⟩ to represent /ɣ/. As pointed out by Flasdieck, this assertion is groundless since the texts where it is attested do not use ⟨g⟩ in such a manner.

発音

• IPA: /-wən/, /-iu̯ən/, /-ɔu̯ən/
• IPA: /-ɡən/ (sometimes, especially after /n/)

接尾辞

-wen

1. (no longer productive) Forms verbs from adjectives or nouns.

派生語

派生した語

• English: -g, -ow (fossilised)

参照

語源 1

From 中期英語 wen, wenne, from 古期英語 wenn, wænn (“wen”), from Proto-Germanic *wanjaz. Cognate with Dutch wen (“goiter”), Low German Ween (“wen”), dialectal German Wenne (“wen”), Danish van, væne.

名詞

wen (plural wens)

1. A cyst on the skin; a tumor or wart.
   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Country Described. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag), page [220]:

     There was a Fellow with a Wen in his Neck, larger than five Woolpacks, and another with a couple of wooden Legs, each about twenty foot high.

   • 1854, Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Walden:

     When I have met an immigrant tottering under a bundle which contained his all--looking like an enormous wen which had grown out of the nape of his neck--I have pitied him, not because that was his all, but because he had all that to carry.

   • 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:

     Creeps, foreigners with tinted, oily skin, wens, sties, cysts, wheezes, bad teeth, limps, staring or—worse—with Strange Faraway Smiles.

   • 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 4:

     I am debating whether to risk scratching the right side of my jaw, where there is a wen.

   • 1999, Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger, The Year 1000: What life was like at the turn of The First Millennium, London: Abacus, published 2000, page 125:

     Wen, Wen, little Wen,
     here you must not build, here have no abode
     but you must go north to the nearby hill
     where, poor wretch, you have a brother.

派生語

語源 2

Inherited from 古期英語 wynn.

名詞

wen (plural wens)

1. Obsolete form of wynn (“the letter ƿ”).

語源 3

Eye dialect spelling of when.

副詞

wen (not comparable)

1. (eye dialect) Alternative spelling of when.

接続詞

wen

1. (eye dialect) Alternative spelling of when.

代名詞

wen

1. (eye dialect) Alternative spelling of when.

名詞

wen (uncountable)

1. (eye dialect) Alternative spelling of when.

アナグラム

• New, new, new-

語源

From Proto-Germanic *wēniz, from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“love”). Cognate with Old Frisian wen, Old Saxon wan, Old High German wān (German Wahn (“delusion”)), Old Norse ván, Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌽𐍃 (wēns).

発音

• IPA: /weːn/
• 韻: -eːn

名詞

wēn f

1. expectation
2. likelihood
3. (poetic) hope
   • 10th century, Wulf and Eadwacer:

     Wulfes iċ mīnes wīdlāstum wēnum dogode; þonne hit wæs rēniġ weder ond iċ rēotugu sæt, þonne mec sē beaducāfa bōgum bileġde, wæs mē wyn tō þon, wæs mē hwæþre ēac lāð.

     With hopes, I dogged the wide-goings of my Wulf; then it was rainy wind and mournful I sat, then the bold-for-fight laid upon me with arms, there was a mirth for me in that, however it was also hateful for me.

4. probability
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Octaves and Circumcision of our Lord"

     Wēn is þæt eower sum nyte hwæt sy ymbsnidennys.

     It is probable that some of you know not what circumcision is.

   • 1000. West Saxon Gospels (John, xvii. 26). Ic him cyðde ðinne naman & gyt wylle cyþan.

語形変化

Strong i-stem:

派生した語

• Middle English: wene, wen
  • English: ween
  • Scots: wen, wene

名詞

wen

1. alternative form of wayn (“wagon”)

語源 2

名詞

wen

1. (Northamptonshire) alternative form of wynne (“happiness”)

語源 3

動詞

wen

1. (Northern) alternative form of winnen (“to win”)