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Origin and history of wee

wee(adj.)

"extremely small," colloquial, perhaps by mid-15c., from earlier noun use in sense of "quantity, amount" (especially a littel wei "a little thing or amount," c. 1300), said to be from a northern variant of Old English wæge "weight, unit of weight," from Proto-Germanic *wego, from PIE root *wegh- "to go, move, transport in a vehicle." The original sense would be of motion, which led to that of lifting, then to that of "measure the weight of" (compare weigh, from the same source). Adjectival wee bit apparently developed as parallel to such forms as a bit thing "a little thing."

Wee hours "hours after midnight" is attested by 1891, from Scottish phrase wee sma' hours (1819); so called for their low numbers. Wee folk "faeries" is recorded from 1819.

also from mid-15c.

wee

imitative of the squeal of a pig, by 1842.

also from 1842

wee(v.)

"to urinate," by 1934, echoic, perhaps shortened from wee-wee (by 1930).

also from 1934

Entries linking to wee

weigh(v.)

Middle English weien, from Old English wegan (class V strong verb, past tense wæg, past participle wægon) "find the weight of, measure;" also intransitive, "have weight;" also "lift, carry, support, sustain, bear; move," from Proto-Germanic *wegan (source also of Old Saxon wegan, Old Frisian wega, Dutch wegen "to weigh;" Old Norse vega, Old High German wegan "to move, carry, weigh;" German wiegen "to weigh," bewegen "to move, stir"), from PIE root *wegh- "to go, move, transport in a vehicle."

The prehistoric sense evolution would be from "move" to "lift, raise" to "bear up to determine the weight of." Compare Latin pendere "to weigh; consider," literally "to hang, cause to hang." The sense of "lift, carry" survives in the nautical phrase weigh anchor.

The figurative sense of "consider, ponder, examine" for the purpose of forming an opinion (in reference to words, etc.) is recorded from mid-14c.

To weigh down "overload with too much weight" is by mid-14c., originally figurative (of sin, etc.); physical sense is by 1560s.

To weigh in in the sense of "ascertain one's weight before an athletic contest" is by 1868, originally of jockeys, later prize-fighters; the figurative meaning "bring one's influence to bear, enter forcefully into a discussion" is from 1909.

hour(n.)

c. 1200, "divine office prescribed for each of the seven canonical hours; the daily service at the canonical hours;" c. 1300, "time of day appointed for prayer, one of the seven canonical hours," from Old French ore, hore "canonical hour; one-twelfth of a day" (sunrise to sunset), from Latin hora "an hour;" poetically "time of year, season," from Greek hōra a word used to indicate any limited time within a year, month, or day (from PIE *yor-a-, from root *yer- "year, season;" see year).

The Church sense is oldest in English. The meaning "one of the 24 equal parts of a natural solar day (time from one sunrise to the next), equal hour; definite time of day or night reckoned in equal hours," and that of "one of the 12 equal parts of an artificial day (sunrise to sunset) or night, varying in duration according to the season; definite time of day or night reckoned in unequal hours" are from late 14c.

In the Middle Ages the planets were held to rule over the unequal hours. As late as 16c. distinction sometimes was made in English between temporary (unequal) hours and sidereal (equal) ones. The meaning "time of a particular happening; the time for a given activity" (as in hour of death) is mid-14c.

The h- has persisted in this word despite not being pronounced since Roman times. Replaced Old English tid, literally "time" (see tide (n.)) and stund "period of time, point of time, hour," from Proto-Germanic *stundo (compare German Stunde "hour"), which is of uncertain origin. German Uhr likewise is from French.

Greek hora could mean "a season; 'the season' (spring or summer)." In classical times it sometimes meant "a part of the day," such as morning, evening, noon, night. The Greek astronomers apparently borrowed the notion of dividing the day into twelve parts (mentioned in Herodotus) from the Babylonians. Night continued to be divided into four watches (see watch (n.)); but because the amount of daylight changed throughout the year, the hours were not fixed or of equal length.

As a measure of distance ("the distance that can be covered in an hour") it is recorded from 1785. At all hours "at all times" is from early 15c. For small hours (those with low numbers) see wee (adj.).