I break this word down even further and attempt to exegesis its relation to the middle Hekat scene.
Wyrd is also cognate with old norse "Urd/Urdr", meaning "past, fate" and is one of the names of the Norns, the divine fate carvers akin to the Moirai and Parcae, hence why the word fate is related to these fortune telling witches. The original folio also has different spellings in the beginning acts versus the latter ones, with the phrase "wayward son" as the hinge of the play. Modern scholars say it is just different editors with different spelling preferences but I think that dodges some of the interesting aspects of not only the word but the play too.
Steven Donaldson plays around with different meanings of "wyrd", as fate, in his Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, but it's really good to see the origin, just as a casual usage front Shakespeare...
For those like Lovecraft universe (but here with a twist), I recommend "The Weird of Hali" books by JM Greer. That's when it took me a while to figure out the original meaning of a word I thought I already knew 😉
I first saw the original spelling and meaning of wyrd used in the YA books of Rosemary Sutcliff, a writer with a gift for recreating the past. I believe the Scots phrase to 'dree ye'r weird', which I've heard used on occasion, means to resign oneself to one's fate.
Betide me weal, betide me woe / That wyrd shall never daunten me /Syne he has kissed her rosy lips / all underneath the Eildon tree - Thomas the Rhymer, Scottish ballad
Thank you for this wonderful etymological journey, and for explaining the English orthographic logic behind my embarrassing impulse to always misspell the Scottish word 'weird'.
I break this word down even further and attempt to exegesis its relation to the middle Hekat scene.
Wyrd is also cognate with old norse "Urd/Urdr", meaning "past, fate" and is one of the names of the Norns, the divine fate carvers akin to the Moirai and Parcae, hence why the word fate is related to these fortune telling witches. The original folio also has different spellings in the beginning acts versus the latter ones, with the phrase "wayward son" as the hinge of the play. Modern scholars say it is just different editors with different spelling preferences but I think that dodges some of the interesting aspects of not only the word but the play too.
So good! Thank you!
Lovely article.
Steven Donaldson plays around with different meanings of "wyrd", as fate, in his Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, but it's really good to see the origin, just as a casual usage front Shakespeare...
This was really interesting thank you
'Wayward' was used in exactly this sense in Nahum Tate's libretto for Henry Purcell's 'Dido and Aeneas' first performed in 1689.
Enter the Sorceress:
Wayward sisters, you that fright
The lonely traveller by night,
Who like dismal ravens crying
Beat the windows of the dying,
Appear at my call, and share in the fame
Of a mischief shall make all Carthage flame.
Appear, appear!
Can we assume this use of wayward was directly influenced by the 1623 First Folio?
The journey of this word was quite fascinating,not to say...weird!
Am I right to assume that wyrd ia cognate with the German werden - will be?
Thanks for the full story.
For those like Lovecraft universe (but here with a twist), I recommend "The Weird of Hali" books by JM Greer. That's when it took me a while to figure out the original meaning of a word I thought I already knew 😉
I first saw the original spelling and meaning of wyrd used in the YA books of Rosemary Sutcliff, a writer with a gift for recreating the past. I believe the Scots phrase to 'dree ye'r weird', which I've heard used on occasion, means to resign oneself to one's fate.
Betide me weal, betide me woe / That wyrd shall never daunten me /Syne he has kissed her rosy lips / all underneath the Eildon tree - Thomas the Rhymer, Scottish ballad
Thank you for this wonderful etymological journey, and for explaining the English orthographic logic behind my embarrassing impulse to always misspell the Scottish word 'weird'.
One can extend the spelling rule to “i before e except after c when the sound is ee” so that weird is not anomalous.