| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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Appendix I
Indo-European Roots |
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| ENTRY: | wen-1 |
| DEFINITION: | To desire, strive for.
Derivatives include win, wont, wish, venerate, venereal, venom, and venison.
1. Suffixed form *wen-w-. win, from Old English winnan, to win, from Germanic *winn(w)an, to seek to gain. 2. Suffixed zero-grade form *w -y -. wynn, winsome, from Old English wynn, wen, pleasure, joy, from Germanic *wunj . 3. Suffixed (stative) zero-grade form *w- -, to be contented. won1, wont, from Old English wunian, to become accustomed to, dwell, from Germanic *wunn. 4. Suffixed (causative) o-grade form *won-eyo-. wean, from Old English wenian, to accustom, train, wean, from Germanic *wanjan. 5. ween, from Old English wnan, to expect, imagine, think, from Germanic denominative *wnjan, to hope, from *wniz, hope. 6. Suffixed zero-grade form *w-sko-. wish, from Old English w scan, to desire, wish, from Germanic *wunsk-. 7. Perhaps o-grade form *won-. a. Vanir, from Old Norse Vanir, the Vanir; b. vanadium, from Old Norse Vanad s, name of the goddess Freya. Both a and b from Germanic *wana-. 8. Suffixed form *wen-es-. a. venerate, venereal, venery1, Venus, from Latin venus, love; b. suffixed form *wen-es-no-. venom, from Latin vennum, love potion, poison. 9. Possibly suffixed form *wen-eto-, “beloved.” Wend, from Old High German Winid, Wend, from Germanic *Weneda-, a Slavic people. 10. Suffixed form *wen-y-. venial, from Latin venia, favor, forgiveness. 11. Lengthened-grade form *wn--. venery2, venison, from Latin vnr, to hunt. 12. Suffixed basic form *wen-o-. wanderoo, from Sanskrit vanam, forest. 13. Possibly zero-grade suffixed form *w-ig-. banyan, from Sanskrit va ik, vija , merchant (? < “seeking to gain”). (Pokorny 1.  en- 1146.) |
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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