Wednesday, 12 November 2008

WIT, WITTY, WITNESS, VIDEO

According to the Indo-European Roots Index of The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language and www.bartleby.com/61/ we will analyse:
• WIT
This word comes from the Old English(OE) word –weid that means ‘to see’.
Its Zero-grade form *wid- comes from Old English wit, witt that means knowledge and intelligence.
Among their derivatives we include guide, wisdom, kaleidoscope, Hades, unwitting, envy, idea, history, and penguin.
• WITTY
From OE. wit(t)i . Its meaning is possessing or demonstrating wit in speech or writing; very clever and humorous and being characterized by or having the nature of wit; funny or jocular.
• WITNESS
It comes from OE. witnes, more frequently ewitnes, f. wit WIT n., IWIT + -nes -NESS. The passage in sense from abstract to concrete is paralleled in French témoin (testimonium). The uninflected plural was frequent in early use.
The meaning of witness is somebody who can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced, for instance, being a witness of a robbery.
• VIDEO
Whose origins come from Latin video, first person singular of the present tense of videre whose meaning is to see. At the same time, video comes from the Latin word vide, sing. imperative of videre, ‘to see’ that also coincides to the word wit that comes from –weid.

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