wermode

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Middle English

[edit]

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From Old English wermōd, wormōd, from Proto-West Germanic *warjamōdā. Some forms remodelled on the basis of worm + wode.

Pronunciation

[edit]
  • IPA(key): /ˈwɛrmoːd/, /ˈwɛrmɔd/, /ˈwurmɔd/

Noun

[edit]

wermode (uncountable)

  1. wormwood (Artemisia absinthium or other related plants)
  2. Something that induces bitterness or unlikeability.
  3. (biblical) Wormwood (object in the Book of Revelation)
    • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎[1], published c. 1410, Apocalips 8:10-11, page 120r, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:
      And þe þꝛidde aungel trumpide .· ⁊ a greet ſterre bꝛennynge as a litil bꝛond felde fro heuene ⁊ it felde in to þe þꝛidde part of floodis .· ⁊ in to þe wellis of watris ⁊ þe name of þe ſterre is ſeid wermod ⁊ þe þꝛidde part of watris .· was maad in to wermod ⁊ manye men weren deed of þe watris .· for þo weren maad bittir
      And the third angel blew his trumpet, then a great star burning like a little torch fell from heaven; it fell upon a third of [the world's] rivers and water sources. The name of the star is Wormwood, and a third of the [world's] water was turned into wormwood; many people died from that water because it'd been made bitter.

Descendants

[edit]
  • English: wormwood (< wormwode)
  • Scots: wormit (< wormet)
  • Irish: mormónta

References

[edit]