wynn

See also: Wynn

English

wynn on Wikipedia

wynn (plural wynns)

A letter of the Old English alphabet, ƿ, borrowed from the futhark and used to represent the sound of w; replaced in Middle English times by the digraph uu, which later developed into the letter w.
- 1985, Robert Burchfield, The English Language, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 175:
  The Norman scribes gradually replaced wynn by u, uu, vv, and w itself.

A metathesized borrowing from the Imperial Aramaic gentilic plural 𐡉𐡅𐡍𐡉𐡍 (ywnyn /⁠*yawnāyīn⁠/, “Greeks”), ultimately derived from Ancient Greek Ἰᾱ́ϝων (Iā́wōn, “Ionian”). Compare Jewish Literary Aramaic יַוְנָאִין (yawnāʾīn, “Greeks”).

⁠⁠⁠⁠ m

Erichsen, Wolja (1954) Demotisches Glossar, Copenhagen: Ejnar Munksgaard, page 80
Černý, Jaroslav (1976) Coptic Etymological Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 213
Brugsch, F. Chabas and Eug. Revillout (1911) Revue Égyptologique publiée sous la direction de MM. Vol. XIII, page 107, Paris

wynn f

joy, delight
- 10th century, The Wanderer:
  oþþe mec frēondlēasne · frēfran wolde,
  wēman mid wynnum. · Wāt sē þe cunnað,
  hū slīþen bið · sorg tō ġefēran,
  þām þe him lȳt hafað · lēofra ġeholena.
  or friendless me would soothe,
  allure with glees. Knows the one who undergoes,
  how tough is sorrow as a companion,
  to whom little has dear confidants for himself.
the runic character ᚹ
- The Old English rune poem
  ᚹ ne brūceþ þe can wēana lȳt...
  Joy he has, he who knows little of woe...
the letter wynn: Ƿ, ƿ (/w/)

Mostly occurs in poetry and feminine proper names. The normal prose words for "joy" were ġefēa and bliss.

Strong ō-stem:

Middle English: wynne, wunne, winne
- English: wynn, wen, winne, win
- Scots: win