Etymology
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*were-o-

*wērə-o-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "true, trustworthy."

It forms all or part of: aver; Varangian; veracious; veracity; verdict; veridical; verify; verisimilitude; verism; veritas; verity; very; voir dire; warlock.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Latin verus "true;" Old Church Slavonic vera "faith," Russian viera "faith, belief;" Old English wær "a compact," Old Dutch, Old High German war, Dutch waar, German wahr "true;" Welsh gwyr, Old Irish fir "true."

Entries linking to *were-o-

aver (v.)

late 14c., "assert the truth of," from Old French averer "verify, confirm, prove" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *adverare "make true, prove to be true," from Latin ad "to" (see ad-) + verus "true" (from PIE root *were-o- "true, trustworthy"). From 1580s as "affirm with confidence." Related: Averred; averring.

Varangian (n.)

one of the Northmen who ravaged the Baltic coast in 9c. and by tradition overran part of western Russia and founded a dynasty there," 1788, from Medieval Latin Varangus, from Byzantine Greek Barangos, a name ultimately (via Slavic) from Old Norse væringi "a Scandinavian," properly "a confederate," from var- "pledge, faith," related to Old English wær "agreement, treaty, promise," Old High German wara "faithfulness" (from PIE root *were-o- "true, trustworthy"). Attested in Old Russian as variagi; surviving in Russian varyag "a peddler," Ukrainian varjah "a big strong man."

updated on May 23, 2017

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Dictionary entries near *were-o-

Wend

Wendy

went

*wer-

were

*were-o-

werewolf

*werg-

wergeld

Werther

Wesleyan

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