wish

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*wenh₁-
2. Proto-Indo-European*wnh₁sḱéti
3. Proto-Indo-European*(ó)-os
4. Proto-Germanic*wunskaz
5. Proto-Germanic*wunskijaną
6. Proto-West Germanic*wunskijan
7. Old Englishwȳsċan
8. Middle Englishwischen
9. English todaywish

From Middle English wisshen, wischen, wüschen, from Old English wȳsċan (“to wish”), from Proto-West Germanic *wunskijan, from Proto-Germanic *wunskijaną (“to wish”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to wish, love”). Cognate with Scots wis (“to wish”), Saterland Frisian wonskje (“to wish”), West Frisian winskje (“to wish”), Dutch wensen (“to wish”), German wünschen (“to wish”), Luxembourgish wënschen (“to wish”), Yiddish ווינטשן (vintshn, “to wish”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål ønske (“to wish”), Faroese ynskja (“to wish, to desire”), Icelandic æskja, óska (“to wish”), Norwegian Nynorsk ønskja, ønskje, ønska, ønske, ynskja, ynskje (“to wish, to desire”), Swedish önska (“to wish”). Via PIE cognate with Latin Venus, veneror (“venerate, honour, love”), English wonder.

Words from the same roots