hwettan

From Proto-West Germanic *hwattjan, from Proto-Germanic *hwatjaną (“to incite, sharpen”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₁d- (“sharp”).

Cognate with Middle Dutch wetten (Dutch wetten), Old High German wezzan (German wetzen), Old Norse hvetja (Swedish vässa).

• IPA^(key): /ˈxwet.tɑn/, [ˈʍet.tɑn]

hwettan

1. to sharpen
2. to incite, encourage, whet
   • 10th century, The Seafarer:

     Forþon nū mīn hyġe hweorfeð ofer hreþerlocan; mīn mōdsefa mid mereflōde ofer hwæles ēþel hweorfeð wīde, eorþan sċēatas, cymeð eft tō mē ġīfre ond grǣdiġ; ġielleð ānfloga, hweteð on wæl weġ hreþer unwearnum ofer holma ġelagu.

     Thus, my mind now wanders over heartstead; my soul wanders afar with the sea-flood over whale’s home, on the Earth’s corners, comes back, greedy and hungry, to me; the lone-flyer yells, whets the soul on the slain way over the stretch of waters with no refuses.

• hwetstān

• Middle English: whetten, qwete, whett, whette, whettyn, whætte (Early Middle English)
  • English: whet
  • Scots: what
  • Yola: what