wield

From Middle English wēlden, which combines forms from two closely related verbs: Old English wealdan (“to control, rule”) (strong class 7) and Old English wieldan (“to control, subdue”) (weak). Both verbs ultimately derive from Proto-West Germanic *waldan, from Proto-Germanic *waldaną (“to rule”)

The reason for the merger was that in Middle English the -d in the stem made it hard to distinguish between strong and weak forms in the past tense.[1]

• enPR: wēld, IPA^(key): /wiːld/

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• Rhymes: -iːld
• Homophones: wealed, Weald, weald, wheeled (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

wield (third-person singular simple present wields, present participle wielding, simple past and past participle wielded)

1. (obsolete) To command, rule over; to possess or own.
   • 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum 7”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book V, [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:

     There was never kyng sauff myselff that welded evir such knyghtes.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (obsolete) To control, to guide or manage.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     With such his chearefull speaches he doth wield / Her mind so well, that to his will she bends […].

3. (obsolete) To carry out, to bring about.
   • a. 1513, Virgil, “VIII, prologue”, in Gawin Douglas [i.e., Gavin Douglas], transl., edited by [George Dundas], The Æneid of Virgil: Translated into Scottish Verse (Bannatyne Club, Publications; 64, no. 1), volume I, Edinburgh: T. Constable, printer, published 1839, →OCLC, page 448, line 1:

     All is weill done, God wate, weild he hys will.

4. To handle with skill and ease, especially a weapon or tool.
5. To exercise (authority or influence) effectively.

• bewield
• wieldsome
• wieldy

• Wilde, wiled

wield (masculine wielden, feminine, plural or definite wielde)

1. Alternative spelling of wíeld

From Old English wieldan (“to control”), a derivative of wealdan (“to govern”), from Proto-West Germanic *waldan. Cognate with German walten, Swedish vålla.

• IPA^(key): /wiːld/

wield

1. To control, to guide or manage.