FromMiddle Englishwem,wemme, fromOld Englishwamm(“stain, spot, scar, disgrace, defect, defilement, sin, evil, crime, injury, loss, hurt, misfortune”), fromProto-Germanic*wammaz(“stain, spot”), fromProto-Indo-European*wemh₁-(“to spew, vomit”). Cognate withIcelandicvamm(“loss, damage”),Latinvomō(“vomit”,verb) (whenceEnglishvomit),Ancient Greekἐμέω(eméō,“I spew”) (Englishemesis),Lithuanianvemti(“to vomit”),Sanskritवमति(vamati,“to vomit”). The sense development would be "vomit" > "stain", "fault".
wem (pluralwems)
- (UK dialectal) Aspot,stain, ormark;(by extension) a (moral)blemish orfault.
- 1822, sir Walter Scott (bart [novels, collected]),Historical romances of the author of Waverley, page 513:
- "It is even so," he added, as he gazed on the Sub-Prior with astonishment; "neitherwem nor wound — not so much as a rent in his frock!"
1846, William Maskell,Monumenta ritualia Ecclesiae Anglicanae, page 8:The lawe of the lord is withoutwem, and conuertith soulis : the witnessyng of the lord is feithful, and gyueth wisdom to litle children.
1934, Ezra Pound,ABC of reading, page39:That "whole art" consisted in putting together about six strophes of poesy so that the words and the tune should be welded together without joint and withoutwem.
1936, Blanche Mary Kelly,The Well of English:[…] but it is a perfect illustration of the vision which haunted Blake all his days,—the vision of Paradise, an earthly Paradise in which there is neitherwem nor wrinkle, which basks in the radiance of its own innocence.
wem
- (interrogative)dative ofwer, (to)whom (indirect object).
- “wem” inDuden online
- “wem” inDigitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
