Origin and history of *weg-

"cease to sleep, come out of sleep," a merger of two Middle English verbs: 1. awaken, from Old English awæcnan (earlier onwæcnan; strong, past tense awoc, past participle awacen) "to awake, arise, originate," from a "on" + wacan "to arise, become awake;" and 2. awakien, from Old English awacian (weak, past participle awacode) "to awaken, revive; arise; originate, spring from," from a "on" + wacian "to be awake, remain awake, watch." For the first element, see a (1); the second element in both is common Proto-Germanic (from PIE root *weg- "to be strong, be lively").

Both originally were intransitive only; the transitive sense "arouse from sleep" generally being expressed by Middle English awecchen (from Old English aweccan) until later Middle English. In Modern English, the tendency has been to restrict the strong past tense and past participle (awoke, awoken) to the original intransitive sense and the weak inflection (awaked) to the transitive, but this never has been complete. For distinctions of usage, see wake (v.); also compare awaken.

Un peuple tout entier s'aperçut, le 15 mai 1796, que tout ce qu'il avait respecté jusque-là était souverainement ridicule et quelquefois odieux. ["La chartreuse de parme"]

c. 1200, biwicchen, "cast a spell on; enchant, subject to sorcery," from be- + Old English wiccian "to enchant, to practice witchcraft" (see witch). Literal at first, and with implication of harm; the figurative sense of "fascinate, charm past resistance" is from 1520s. *Bewiccian may well have existed in Old English, but it is not attested. Related: Bewitchery; bewitchment.