Old English wilcumian "to welcome, greet gladly," from wilcuma (see welcome (n.)). Related: Welcomed; welcoming.
Old English wilcuma "welcome!" exclamation of kindly greeting, from earlier wilcuma (n.) "welcome guest," literally "one whose coming suits another's will or wish," from willa "pleasure, desire, choice" (see will (n.)) + cuma "guest," related to cuman "to come," from PIE root *gwa- "to go, come." Similar formation in Old High German willicomo, Middle Dutch wellecome.
Meaning "entertainment or public reception as a greeting" is recorded from 1530. The adjective is from Old English wilcuma. You're welcome as a formulaic response to thank you is attested from 1907. Welcome mat is from 1908; welcome wagon is attested from 1940.
*gwā-, also *gwem-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to go, come."
It forms all or part of: acrobat; adiabatic; advent; adventitious; adventure; amphisbaena; anabasis; avenue; base (n.) "bottom of anything;" basis; become; circumvent; come; contravene; convene; convenient; convent; conventicle; convention; coven; covenant; diabetes; ecbatic; event; eventual; hyperbaton; hypnobate; intervene; intervenient; intervention; invent; invention; inventory; juggernaut; katabatic; misadventure; parvenu; prevenient; prevent; provenance; provenience; revenant; revenue; souvenir; subvention; supervene; venire; venue; welcome.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit gamati "he goes," Avestan jamaiti "goes," Tocharian kakmu "come," Lithuanian gemu, gimti "to be born," Greek bainein "to go, walk, step," Latin venire "to come," Old English cuman "come, approach," German kommen, Gothic qiman.
beautiful and capable Milesian consort of Pericles; her name is from fem. of Greek aspasios "welcome," related to aspazesthai "to welcome," which is of uncertain origin.
also gladhand, 1903, from verbal phrase to give the glad hand "extend a welcome" (1895); see glad (adj.). Often used cynically. Related: Glad-handed; glad-handing.
1530s, "a cleaning out, removal, clearance," from rid + -ance. The meaning "a deliverance from something superfluous or unwanted" is from 1590s. Good riddance, "a welcome relief from unpleasant company or an embarrassing connection" attested from 1650s. Shakespeare has gentle riddance (1590s); Middleton has fair riddance (1610s).
"worthy to be desired, fit to excite a wish to possess," late 14c., from Old French desirable (12c.), from desirrer (see desire (v.)). In Middle English sometimes it meant "desired, hoped for, welcome." Related: Desirably.
early 15c., in an ecclesiastical sense, "take possession of (a prebend) not rightfully one's own," a back-formation from intrusion, or else from Latin intrudere "to thrust in, force in," from in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + trudere "to thrust, push," from PIE *treud- "to press, push, squeeze" (see threat).
From 1560s in a physical sense of "thrust in" (transitive or intransitive); meaning "enter unbidden and without welcome" is from 1570s; that of "thrust or bring in without necessity or right" is from 1580s. Related: Intruded; intruding.
"in spite of, notwithstanding," mid-14c., from Old French maugre, maulgrec "in spite of" (Modern French malgré), elliptical use of the noun maugre "ill-will, spite," from Latin malus "bad, ill, unpleasant" (see mal-) + gratum "a pleasant thing," noun use of neuter of gratus "pleasing, welcome, agreeable" (from suffixed form of PIE root *gwere- (2) "to favor"). The noun maugre "ill-will" also was in Middle English (c. 1300). For sense, compare in spite of.
