I was looking up the word “twee” some time back, to make sure it meant what i thought it meant. I enjoy using the online version of the OED, available through my public library’s website. I became distracted by words that started with “twa” — such Anglo-Saxon sounds, such Old English roots. The letter W — how unlike, in name, the other letters. A little web research (yes, the WWW) led to confirmation that my hunch was correct. W, in various sources, became a letter in the tenth or eleventh century (QV here)
So were i to do calligraphy in homage to the Anglo-Saxon sound of the W, what script should i use? Carolingian seems appropriate, although French is not Anglo-Saxon! (QV here)
Research for terms in the OED
TWIT, v, To blame, find fault with, censure. (1530) Root is OE. wítan to blame, reproach
TWILL “A woven fabric characterized by parallel diagonal ridges or ribs, produced by causing the weft threads to pass over one and under two or more threads of the warp, instead of over and under in regular succession, as in plain weaving.” (1329) OE. twili, derived from the L. bilix
WEAVE “1. trans. To form or fabricate (a stuff or material) by interlacing yarns or other filaments of a particular substance in a continuous web; to manufacture in a loom by crossing the threads or yarns called respectively the warp and the weft. Also with obj. the web itself, a garment made up of such a stuff or material. ” (c900) OE. wefan, pa. tense wæf, pl. wa’efon, pa. pple. wefen Indogermanic *webh- (:*wbh- :*ubh- The same root occurs in web (and abb), weft, woof.
WARP [OE. wearp warp in weaving :OTeut. *warpo-, f. root *werp-: *warp- to throw: see WARP v. ]
I. 1. a. Weaving. The threads which are extended lengthwise in the loom, usually twisted harder than the weft or woof, with which these threads are crossed to form the web or piece.
c725
WARP, v, [A Com. Teut. str. vb.: OE. weorpan (wearp, wurpon, worpen) corresponds to OFris. werpa (worp, wurpon, ewurpen), OS. werpan (warp, wurpun, worpan), Du. werpen (wierp, worpen), OHG. werfan (warf, wurfun, worfen), MHG., mod.G. werfen (warf, wurfen, geworfen), ON. verpa (varp, urpu, orpenn), Sw. verpa, Da. verpe, Goth. wairpan (warp, waurpum, waurpans); f. OTeut. root *werp- (warp-, wurp-):pre-Teut. *werb-; the root is not found outside Teut.
The strong conjugation did not survive in Eng. later than the 15th c.]
I. To cast, throw.
1. a. trans. To project through space; to cast, throw, fling. Obs. c888
WEFT, n, [OE. wefta wk. masc., weft str. masc., ? wift fem., corresp. to ON. veptr masc., vipta fem., weft, MHG. wift masc., fine thread; repr. OTeut. types *wefton-, *wefto-z, *wefti-z, f. *we- to WEAVE.]
1. Weaving. The threads that cross from side to side of a web, at right angles to the warp threads with which they are interlaced: = WOOF
WAX, v, [[A Common Teut. strong verb (which became weak in late ME.): OE. weaxan (pa. tense wéox, Northumb. wóx; pa. pple. weaxen) ] I. To grow, increase. (Opposed to wane, wanze.)
WANE, v, OE. wanian (wnian) wk. vb. to lessen (trans. and intr.) I. intr. To grow less, decrease. (Opposed to wax.)
WIDDERSHINS, adv, [a. MLG. weddersin(ne)s (cf. wedersins ‘contrario modo’, Kilian), a. MHG. widersinnes, f. wider- WITHER-1 + gen. of sin (esp. MG.) = sind, sint way, direction (see SITHE n.1): cf. MHG. widersinnen to return. In sense 2 associated with son, SUN n.1]
1. In a direction opposite to the usual; the wrong way; to stand or start withershins, (of the hair) to ‘stand on end’. Obs.
