Writhe

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Writhe

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Mar 28, 2023 7:35 pm

• writhe •


Pronunciation: raidh • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: To twist, move with twisting motions, to squirm, wrench or contort.

Notes: Since this word is an authentic English verb (not borrowed), we are left with the present participle, writhing, serving double (triple?) duty of serving as adjective and action noun. Just don't forget it begins with a silent W or to write the final E which turns the [th] into [dh].

In Play: When used in referring to humans, writhing is usually caused by pain (physical or mental): "The more of his faults Senator Bendergraf heard his opponent list, the more he writhed in his seat." The writhing itself may be physical or mental: "The debate made all those faults writhe back to Bendergraf from the dark recesses of his mind."

Word History: In Old English today's Good Word was wriðan "to twist, bend", akin to Swedish vrida "to turn" and Norwegian vri "to twist". They all come from PIE wreit- "to twist", a suffixed and metathesized version of wer-/wor- "to turn, bend", source also of Serbian vratiti "return, put back". Without metathesis, this word also produced Sanskrit vartate "rolls, rounds", Latin vertere "to turn (into), convert", Russian verba "willow" and vernut' "to return", Serbian vrba "willow", German werden "will, become (turn into)", and Lithuanian virvė "rope". With other PIE suffixes we find Welsh gwrym "hem, seam", Dutch rimpelen "wrinkle", English wring and, perhaps, German werfen "to throw". (Now let's recognize Anna Jung's continuing contribution to our efforts by submitting excellent Good Words like today's.)
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Debbymoge
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Re: Writhe

Postby Debbymoge » Fri Mar 31, 2023 12:26 pm

How long ago did the "w" cease to be pronounced?
How was it pronounced?
While I deeply appreciate many of our odd spellings (compared to the way the word looks), as indicators of the words' origins, somehow the silent W has always bothered.
Silent K (e.g. knight, knuckle) causes less angst. I can "hear" how to accommodate that.
I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.
Shakespear

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Slava
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Re: Writhe

Postby Slava » Fri Mar 31, 2023 1:01 pm

I expect it was originally pronounced with a 'v' sound. Here's what etymonline.com has to say on wr-:
common Germanic consonantal combination, especially to start words implying twisting or distortion. Retained in Dutch and Flemish; reduced to -r- in Old High German and Old Norse; represented by vr- in Danish and Swedish; still spelled -wr- in English, but the -w- ceased to be pronounced c. 1450-1700 except in dialects.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

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Re: Writhe

Postby Debbymoge » Sun Apr 02, 2023 11:20 am

Thank you very much, Slava.

Years of musings finally laid to rest.
I was once pretty good at digging up answers, but that is one of my diminishing abilities.
Maybe I was just better at handling books than interacting with machines.

I had my grandson look up words in a dictionary instead of online. He began to wander off topic pretty quickly, finding words and ideas...

I won't preach. You all can see where this is going I think.
I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.
Shakespear

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Re: Writhe

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sun Apr 02, 2023 10:52 pm

W, V, and U commonly have replaced each other in varying positions over the course of the development of Indo-European languages. The name of W is "double U", from the days when [ u] was written V.

W is nothing more than puckering of the lips (rounding). R, on the other hand, is curling the tongue upwards while puckering. Babies can see puckering but they can't see the tongue curling. That is why they go through a period of pronouncing rabbit [wabbit], road [wode], etc.
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Debbymoge
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Re: Writhe

Postby Debbymoge » Mon Apr 03, 2023 10:44 am

The name of W is "double U", from the days when [ u] was written V.
except, of course, in French where the name is "double V"

I like the Dutch take on it. The name of the letter sounds like "way".
Think of World Wide Web... way way way -OUT.
I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.
Shakespear

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Re: Writhe

Postby Slava » Mon Apr 03, 2023 12:04 pm

Or, if you go for the odder bits of the internot, way-way-way outré.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

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Re: Writhe

Postby Debbymoge » Tue Apr 04, 2023 9:15 pm

Slava,
VERY nice!
I do so like being topped by one as clever as you.
I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.
Shakespear

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Re: Writhe

Postby David Myer » Mon Apr 10, 2023 8:16 am

And presumably wreath too is related. Wreaths are presumably necessarily twisted.


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