The story
- Latin · derived fromvīpera“viper; snake, serpent”
- VL. · derived from*vivra,*vibra
- Old Northern French · derived fromwivre
- Middle English · inherited fromwyver“viper”
- English todaywyvern
Alteration of Middle English wyver (“viper”), from Old Northern French wivre, from Vulgar Latin *vivra, *vibra, from Latin vīpera (“viper; snake, serpent”). Doublet of weever and viper. Related to viviparous.
Words from the same roots
Old Northern Frenchwivre all →
weever
Latinvīpera all →
viperweever
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.