Origin and history of wittol

derisive name for a man whose wife is false to him, "husband of an adulteress," early 13c., kukewald, cokewold, from Old French cucuault, from cocu (see cuckoo) + pejorative suffix -ault, of Germanic origin. So called from the female bird's alleged habit of changing mates, or her authentic habit of leaving eggs in another bird's nest.

In Modern French the identity is more obvious: Coucou for the bird and cocu for the betrayed husband. German Hahnrei (13c.), from Low German, is of obscure origin. The second element seems to be connected to words for "ardent," and suggests perhaps "sexually aggressive hen," with transferal to humans, but Kluge suggests rather a connection to words for "capon" and "castrated." The female equivalent, cuckquean, is attested by 1560s.

Shortened form cuck originally in internet erotica (see cuck v.2) then extended to general sense of "weak male; male who is taken advantage of" and finally given political insinuations by 2017.

"to know, be certain about, have knowledge of" (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" (from PIE root *weid- "to see;" compare wise (adj.)).

The phrase to wit, almost the only surviving use of the verb, is recorded by 1570s, from earlier that is to wit (mid-14c.), itself probably a loan-translation of Anglo-French cestasavoir, used to render Latin videlicet (see viz.).

Germanic cognates include Old Saxon witan, Old Norse vita, Old Frisian wita, Middle Dutch, Dutch weten, Old High German wizzan, German wissen, Gothic witan "to know."

God wot "God knows," used to emphasize truth, is by early 13c. Also see wist.