wæter

Old English

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *wed-

Proto-Indo-European *-r̥

Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥

Proto-Germanic *watōr

Proto-West Germanic *watar

Old English wæter

wæter n

water
- c. 994, Ælfric, On the Year
  Ðǣre sunnan ġēar is ꝥ hēo beyrne þone miċlan ċircul zōdiacum, ⁊ ġecume under ǣlċ þǣra twelf tācna. Ǣlċe mōnað hēo yrnð under ān þǣra tācna. Ān þǣra tācna ys ġehāten ariēs, ꝥ is ramm; ōðer taurus, ꝥ is fearr; ðridda geminī, ꝥ synd ġetwisan; fēorða cancer, ꝥ is crabba; fīfta lēo; syxta virgō, ꝥ is mǣden; seofoða lībra, þæt is pund oððe wǣġe; eahtoðe scorpius, ꝥ is þrōwend; nigoða is sagittārius, ꝥ is sċytta; tēoða ys capricornus, ꝥ is buccan horn, oððe bucca; endlyfta is aquārius, ꝥ is wætergyte, oððe þe þe wæter ġȳt; twelfte is piscēs, ꝥ synd fixas.
  A year of the sun is when she passes around the Zodiac circle and moves under each of the twelve signs. Each month runs under one of the signs. The first of the signs is called aries, that is "ram"; the second is taurus, that is "bull"; the third is gemini, that is "twins"; the fourth is cancer, that is "crab"; the fifth is lion; the sixth is virgo, that is "virgin"; the seventh is libra, that is "pound" or "scales"; eighth is scorpious, that is "scorpion"; ninth is sagittarius, that is "shooter"; tenth is capricornus, that is "he-goat's horn" or "he-goat"; eleventh is aquarius, that is "pouring water" or "one that pours water"; twelfth is pisces, that is "fishes."

The declension of this noun was subject to a couple of minor variations:

The inflected forms often featured an epenthetic /e/ before the /r/, especially in late Old English. For example, wæteres (gen. sg.) and wætere (dat. sg.) might appear in place of expected wætres and wætre. This reverses an earlier sound change from prehistoric Old English, where short /æ/ and /e/ were regularly lost in word-internal open syllables when the preceding syllable was stressed. There is also a singly-attested weak genitive plural wæterena.

Similarly, the nominative/accusative plural varied between the expected form *wæter and *wæt(e)ru. The form with -u reverses another prehistoric sound change, where word-final /i/ and /u/ were lost following a heavy syllable or two light syllables. This makes wæter part of a small class of neuter nouns which vary between the (expected) unchanged plural and an innovative plural ending in -u. Other examples are wǣpn ~ wǣpnu (“weapons”), tācn ~ tācnu (“signs”), bēacn ~ bēacnu (“signals”), setl ~ setlu (“seats”), leġer ~ leġru (“couches”), wāgrift ~ wāgriftu (“curtains”), seġl ~ seġlu (“sails”), botl ~ botlu (“dwellings”), wolcn ~ wolcnu (“clouds”), weder ~ wedru (“storms”), bræġn ~ bræġnu (“brains”), wundor ~ wundru (“miracles”), tungol ~ tunglu (“stars”), þȳrel ~ þȳrlu (”holes”), and swefn ~ swefnu (“dreams”).

Strong a-stem:

Middle English: water, watere, watir, waterre
- English: water (see there for further descendants)
- Geordie: watter, wetter
- Scots: watter
- Yola: waudher, wadher, wather