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Origin and history of wist

wist(v.)

"to know" (archaic), c. 1500, a spurious word from the past tense of wit (v.) "to know" improperly used as present indicative (in place of wists). It is cognate with German wusste, past tense of wissen "to know."

Had-I-wiste was used c. 1400-1550 in sense "regret for something done rashly or heedlessly;" see wist. Proverbial in expression Had-I-wiste cometh ever too late.

Haddywyst comyth euer to late Whan lewyd woordis beth owte y-spronge. ["Commonplace book" in Trinity College, Cambridge, c. 1500]

also from c. 1500

Entries linking to wist

wit(v.)

"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.

hest(n.)

"bidding, command," Old English hæs "bidding, behest, command," from Proto-Germanic *hait-ti-, from *haitan "to call, name" (see behest). With unetymological -t added in Middle English on model of other pairings (compare wist/wesan, also whilst, amongst, etc.; see amidst).

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    about
    around, in a circular course, round and round; on every side, so as to surround; in every direction;" also "engaged in" (Wist...
    ever
    Old English æfre "ever, at any time, always;" of uncertain origin, no cognates in any other Germanic language; perhaps a contraction of a in feore, literally "ever in life" (the expression a to fore is common in Old English writings). First element is almost certainly related to
    too
    "in addition; in excess," a variant of to (prep.) originally used when the word was stressed in pronunciation. In Old English, the preposition (go to town) leveled with the adverb (the door slammed to). Most of the adverbial uses of to since have become obsolete or archaic except
    late
    Old English læt "occurring after the customary or expected time," originally "slow, sluggish, slack, lax, negligent," from Proto-Germanic *lata- (source also of Old Norse latr "sluggish, lazy," Middle Dutch, Old Saxon lat, Dutch laat, German laß "idle, weary," Gothic lats "weary,
    sequester
    late 14c., sequestren, transitive, "remove (something), set aside; quarantine, isolate (someone); excommunicate;" also intransitive, "separate oneself from," from Old French sequestrer (14c.) and directly from Late Latin sequestrare "to place in safekeeping," from Latin sequester
    render
    late 14c., rendren, rendre, "repeat, say again, recite; translate," from Old French rendre "give back, present, yield" (10c.) and Medieval Latin rendere, from Vulgar Latin *rendere, a variant of Latin reddere "give back, return, restore," from red- "back" (see re-) + combining fo
    respect
    late 14c., "relationship, relation; regard, consideration" (as in in respect to), from Old French respect and directly from Latin respectus "regard, a looking at," literally "act of looking back (or often) at one," noun use of past participle of respicere "look back at, regard, c
    gorgeous
    c. 1500, "splendid, showy, sumptuously adorned" (of clothing), from French gorgias "elegant, fashionable," a word of unknown origin; perhaps a special use of gorgias "necklace" (and thus "fond of or resembling jewelry"), from Old French gorge "throat," also "something adorning th
    marry
    c. 1300, marien, of parents or superiors, "to give (offspring) in marriage," also intransitive, "to enter into the conjugal state, take a husband or wife," from Old French marier "to get married; to marry off, give in marriage; to bring together in marriage," from Latin marītāre
    taboo
    also tabu, 1777 (in Cook's "A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean"), "consecrated, inviolable, forbidden, unclean or cursed; prohibited to a certain class," explained in some English sources as being from Tongan (Polynesian language of the island of Tonga) ta-bu "sacred," from ta "mark"

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