whete

Middle English

FWOTD – 24 January 2019

Alternative forms

• ȝwete, huete, weete, wete, wheete, whet, whette, wheyte, wheytt, whiett, whyte
• quete, quheyt, qwet, qwhete (Northern)
• hwæte, hweate, hwete, whæte (Early Middle English)

Etymology

Inherited from Old English hwǣte, hwēte.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhwɛːt(ə)/
• (dialectal) IPA^(key): /ˈwɛːt(ə)/, /ˈxwɛːt(ə)/

Noun

whete (uncountable)

1. Wheat (“plant of the genus Triticum”).
   • c. 1382–1395, John Wycliffe [et al.], edited by Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden, The Holy Bible, […], volume III, Oxford: At the University Press, published 1850, →OCLC, Hosea VII:14, page 678, column 1:

     And thei crieden not to me in her herte, but ȝelliden in her beddis. Thei chewiden code on wheete, and wyn, and thei ȝeden awei fro me.

     And they cried not to me from their hearts; but whined in their beds. They chewed cud on wheat, and wine, and they ran away from me.

2. The grain resulting from wheat; corn.
   • c. 1375, “Book V”, in Iohne Barbour, De geſtis bellis et uirtutibus domini Roberti de Brwyß […] (The Brus, Advocates MS. 19.2.2)‎^[1], Ouchtirmunſye: Iohannes Ramſay, published 1489, folio 17, verso, lines 408-410; republished at Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland, c. 2010:

     All þe wictalis owtane ſalt / Als quheyt and flour ⁊ meill ⁊ malt / In þe wyne sellar geꝛt he bꝛyng […]

     All the food except for salt, / like wheat, flour, meal, and malt, / he went to put in the wine-cellar […]

   • c. 1382–1395, John Wycliffe [et al.], edited by Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden, The Holy Bible, […], volume I, Oxford: At the University Press, published 1850, →OCLC, Genesis XLII:35, page 172, column 1:

     Thes thingis seid, whanne eche heelden out whete, thei founden in the mouth of the sackis boundun moneys.

     These things said, when each poured out their corn, they found in the mouth of the sacks bound [i.e., bundled-up] money.

3. The better or more valuable part of something.

Derived terms

• wheten

Descendants

• English: wheat
• Middle Scots: quhete
  • Scots: white, wheat, wheyt
• Yola: whet

References

• “whēte, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 21 July 2018.