Wiktionary

wort

See also: Wort, wòrt, and wört

English Edit

WOTD – 22 April 2023

Etymology 1 Edit

PIE word
*wréh₂ds
 
A cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata f. alba). Cabbages were formerly also known as worts (sense 2).
 
A smooth hornwort (Phaeoceros laevis), a type of wort (sense 3).

From Middle English wort, wurt, wyrte (“any herb or plant; herb or plant used as food or medicine; (specifically) cabbage or vegetable of the genus Brassica; (chiefly plural) dish of cooked vegetables”) [and other forms],[1] from Old English wyrt (“a plant; vegetable; herb, spice”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *wurti (“a root; a spice”), from Proto-Germanic *wrōts (“a root”), from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“a root”).[2][3] Doublet of root and related to orchard.

cognates

Pronunciation Edit

Noun Edit

wort (plural worts)

  1. (archaic or historical) Now chiefly as the second element in the names of plants: a plant used for food or medicine.
    (food): Synonyms: herb, potherb, vegetable
    (medicine): Synonym: herb
    • 1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of Sobrietie in Diete”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 264:
      [T]he people of his citye, […] shulde be norysshed with barly brede and cakes of whete, and that the residue of their diete shulde be salte, olyues, chese, and likes, and more ouer wortes that the feldes do brynge furthe, for their potage.
    • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Pouerty and Want Causes of Melancholy”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 4, subsection 6, page 207:
      [H]e [a poor person] drinks vvater, and liue's of vvort leaues, pulſe, like a hog, or ſcraps like a dog, […]
    • 1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, “[XXV Sermons Preached at Golden Grove: Being for the Winter Half-year, […].] Sermon XVI. The House of Feasting: Or The Epicures Measures. Part II.”, in ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC, page 204:
      It is an excellent pleaſure to be able to take pleaſure in vvorts and vvater, in bread and onions; […]
    • 1999 November, Victoria Zak, “A Modern Herbal Tea Garden”, in 20,000 Secrets of Tea: The Most Effective Ways to Benefit from Nature’s Healing Herbs, New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing, →ISBN, page 209:
      Two saints are credited with giving St. John's wort its name. One was St. John of Jerusalem, who used the wort (plant) during the crusades to heal his knights' battlefield wounds, and the other was John the Baptist.
  3. (specifically, historical) Chiefly in the plural: a plant of the genus Brassica used as a vegetable; a brassica; especially, a cabbage (Brassica oleracea).
  5. (by extension, botany) A non-vascular plant growing on land from the division Anthocerotophyta (the hornworts) or Marchantiophyta (liverworts); an anthocerotophyte or marchantiophyte.
Derived terms Edit
Terms derived from wort

* This entry contains other derived terms with the word wort.

Translations Edit
plant of the genus Brassica used as a vegetable — see brassica
Brassica oleracea — see cabbage
non-vascular plant growing on land from the division Anthocerotophyta — see anthocerotophyte,‎ hornwort
non-vascular plant growing on land from the division Marchantiophyta — see liverwort,‎ marchantiophyte

Etymology 2 Edit

 
A wort used to brew beer.

From Middle English wort, worte (“infusion of grain (probably malted barley) for brewing ale or beer; unfermented or incompletely fermented beer; infusion of honey and water for making mead; unfermented decoction or infusion of other substances used for food or medicine”) [and other forms],[4] from Old English wurt, wyrt, wyrte (“wort in brewing”), from a merger of Proto-West Germanic *wurtiju (“wort in brewing; seasoning, spice”) and *wurti (“root; spice”), both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wrōts (“a root”): see further at etymology 1.[3][5]

cognates

Pronunciation Edit

Noun Edit

wort (countable and uncountable, plural worts)

  1. (brewing, distilling) Also worts: a liquid extracted from mash (ground malt or some other grain soaked in hot water), which is then fermented to make beer or fermented and distilled to make a malt liquor such as whisky.
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 138, column 2:
      Nay then tvvo treyes, an if you grovv ſo nice, / Methegline, VVort, and Malmſey; […]
    • 1697, William Dampier, chapter XI, in A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 314:
      VVhen they make drink vvith them, they take 10 or 12 ripe Plantains and maſh them vvell in a Trough: then they put tvvo gallons of VVater among them; and this in tvvo hours time vvill ferment and froth like VVort: In four hours it is fit to drink; and then they bottle it and drink it as they have occaſion: […]
    • 2004, Harold McGee, “Wine, Beer, and Distilled Spirits”, in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, revised edition, New York, N.Y., London: Scribner, →ISBN, page 747:
      Making the wort with nothing but barley malt and hot water is the standard method in Germany, and in many U.S. microbreweries.
    • 2017, Jon C. Stott, “The Birds and the Yeasts in Tillamook”, in Beer 101 North: Craft Breweries and Brewpubs of the Washington and Oregon Coasts, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 110:
      They discovered what are called "wild" or "spontaneously fermented" beers, in which fermentation is induced not by pitching commercially produced yeast into an enclosed tank, but by letting the wild yeasts floating in the air interact with the wort to turn it into alcohol.
Derived terms Edit
Translations Edit

References Edit

  1. ^ “wǒrt, n.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ Compare “wort, n.1”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 “wort, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. ^ “wǒrt, n.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. ^ Compare “wort, n.2”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2023.

Further reading Edit

Anagrams Edit

Alemannic German Edit

Alternative forms Edit

Etymology Edit

From Middle High German wort. Cognate with German Wort, Dutch woord, English word, Icelandic orð.

Noun Edit

wort n

  1. (Formazza) word

References Edit

Dutch Edit

 
Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Etymology Edit

From Middle Dutch worte, from Old Dutch *wurta, from Proto-West Germanic *wurtiju.

Pronunciation Edit

Noun Edit

wort n (uncountable)

  1. wort (unfermented beer)

Middle Dutch Edit

Etymology Edit

From Old Dutch wort.

Noun Edit

wort n or f

  1. word
  2. diction, what someone says or writes
  3. prescription, order

Inflection Edit

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms Edit

Descendants Edit

  • Dutch: woord
  • Limburgish: waord, waordj

Further reading Edit

Middle English Edit

Etymology 1 Edit

From Old English wyrt (“plant, herb”), from Proto-West Germanic *wurti, from Proto-Germanic *wrōts (oblique stem *wurt-), from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds. Doublet of rote (“root”).

Alternative forms Edit

Pronunciation Edit

Noun Edit

wort (plural wortes or worten)

  2. A plant (not including trees, shrubs, etc.):
    • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎[1], published c. 1410, Matheu 13:31-32, page 6v, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:
      An oþer parable iheſus puttide foꝛþ to hem. / ⁊ ſeide / þe kyngdom of heuenes is lijk to a coꝛn of ſeneuey · which a man took ⁊ ſewe in his feeld · / which is þe leeſt of alle ſeedis / but whanne it haþ woxen .· it is the mooſt of alle woꝛtis · ⁊ is maad a tre / ſo þe bꝛiddis of þe eir comen ⁊ dwellen in þe bowis þerof.
      Jesus put another parable forwards to them, saying: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in their field; / it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is the largest of all plants; it becomes a tree, so the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."
    1. A plant that is wild or not cultivated or harvested.
    2. A plant that harvested or grown; often as a herb or vegetable.
    3. A plant employed for supposed curative or medical properties.
    4. A leaf as part of a salad or other vegetable dish.
Usage notes Edit

This term is often used in compounds.

Related terms Edit
Descendants Edit
References Edit

Etymology 2 Edit

From Old English wyrt (“wort”), from Proto-West Germanic *wurtiju.

Alternative forms Edit

Pronunciation Edit

Noun Edit

wort (uncountable)

  2. Wort (as in brewing) or an analogous mixture (e.g. used for mead)
Descendants Edit
References Edit

Middle High German Edit

Etymology Edit

From Old High German wort.
The sense verb is a literal translation of Latin verbum.

Noun Edit

wort n

  1. word
  2. (grammar) verb
    • 14th century, Heinrich von Mügeln. Normalised spellings: 1867, Karl Julis Schröer, Die Dichtungen Heinrichs von Mügeln (Mogelîn) nach den Handschriften besprochen, Wien, p. 476:
      Nam, vornam, wort, darnâch
      zûwort, teilfanc, zûfûg ich sach,
      vorsatz, înworf under irem dach
      gemunzet und geformet stân.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants Edit

Old Dutch Edit

Etymology Edit

From Proto-West Germanic *word.

Noun Edit

wort n

  1. word

Inflection Edit

Declension of wort
Singular Plural
nominative wort wort
accusative wort wort
genitive wordes wordo
dative worde wordon

Descendants Edit

Further reading Edit

  • “wort”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

Old High German Edit

Etymology Edit

From Proto-West Germanic *word, whence also Old Dutch wort, Old Saxon and Old English word, Old Norse orð, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (waurd).
The sense verb is a literal translation of Latin verbum.

Pronunciation Edit

Noun Edit

wort n

  1. word
  2. (grammar) verb

Declension Edit

Declension of wort (neuter a-stem)
case singular plural
nominative wort wort
accusative wort wort
genitive wortes worto
dative worte wortum
instrumental wortu —

Descendants Edit

Scots Edit

Alternative forms Edit

Etymology Edit

From Middle English wort.

Noun Edit

wort (uncountable)

  1. (Middle Scots) wort
    How king Duncane send þe wyne and aill browin wiþ mukil wort to king Sueno, quhairwiþ þai war all drokin
    King Duncan sent the wine and ale, brewed with much wort, to King Sueno, with which they were all drunk

References Edit

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