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Origin and history of winter

winter(n.)

Old English winter (plural wintru, wintras), "the fourth and coldest season of the year, winter," from Proto-Germanic *wintruz "winter," which is of uncertain etymology. Boutkan finds two old proposals "semantically possible but not self-evident" but still "serious candidates": the root of wind (n.1) as "the windy season," or cognate with Gaulish vindo-, Old Irish find "white" as "the white season" (from PIE root *weid- "to see"). The usual PIE word for the season is *gheim-.

Germanic cognates include Old Frisian, Dutch winter, Old Saxon, Old High German wintar, German winter, Danish and Swedish vinter, Gothic wintrus, Old Norse vetr "winter." The old proposed connection with wind (n.) is phonetically impossible.

As an adjective in Old English, "pertaining to, characteristic of, or used during winter." In reference to crops that stand through winter or ripen late, by late 14c.

The Anglo-Saxons counted years in winters, as in Old English anwintre "one-year-old. yearling;" and wintercearig, which might mean either "winter-sad" or "sad with years." Old Norse Vetrardag, first day of winter, was the Saturday that fell between Oct. 10 and 16.

winter(v.)

"to pass the winter (in some place)," late 14c., wintren, from winter (n.). Related: Wintered; wintering.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to winter

wind(n.1)

"air naturally in motion; a perceptible current of air from a particular direction;" Old English wind, from Proto-Germanic *winda-, from PIE *wē-nt-o‑ "blowing," suffixed (participial) form of root *we- "to blow."

Normal pronunciation evolution made this word rhyme with kind and rind (Donne rhymes it with mind and Thomas Moore with behind), but it shifted to a short vowel 18c., probably from influence of windy, where the short vowel is natural.

Symbolic of emptiness and vanity since c. 1200; from Middle English also of swiftness, transience, changeability.

I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind. [Ernest Dowson, 1896]

With suggestion of force, agency, influence also by c. 1200, from wind as the driving force of a vessel on water. As in winds of change, a phrase attested by 1905 but popularized in Harold Macmillan's 1960 South Africa speech. Other images are from winds as favorable or not for navigation. To take the wind out of (one's) sails in the figurative sense (by 1883) is an image from sailing, where a ship without wind can make no progress.

The meaning "breath in and out of the lungs" is attested from late Old English; especially "breath in speaking" (early 14c.); hence long-winded. It also meant "easy or regular breathing" (early 14c.), hence second wind in the figurative sense (by 1830), an image from the sport of hunting. The meaning "part of the abdomen where a blow causes temporary loss of breathing power" is by 1823 in pugilism slang (see wind (v.2)).

As "air contained in something" (as in windbag), from late Old English. By mid-14c. as "gas in the body," especially air in the digestive organs.

Winds "orchestral instruments that produce sound by streams of breath or air" is by 1876, from wind-instrument. Also compare windfall, windbreak, etc. An old word for a broad-brimmed hat was wind-cutter (1610s).

The figurative phrase which way the wind blows for "the current state of affairs" is suggested from mid-14c. (how þe wynd was went). To get wind of "receive information about" is by 1809, perhaps inspired by French avoir le vent de.

Wind-chill index, to measure the cooling factor of wind, is recorded from 1939. Wind energy is attested by 1976. Wind vane is from 1725. Wind-shear by 1951.

Germanic cognates include Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Middle Dutch, Dutch wind, Old Norse vindr, Old High German wind, German Wind, Gothic winds.

midwinter(n.)

also mid-winter, "the middle or depth of winter," Old English midwinter, also midde winter; see mid (adj.) + winter (n.). The middle of winter, traditionally the period around the winter solstice (Dec. 21, winter being reckoned from the first of November). As an adjective from mid-12c.