FromMiddle Englishwether,wethir,wedyr, fromOld Englishweþer(“a wether, ram”), fromProto-West Germanic*weþru, fromProto-Germanic*weþruz(“wether”), fromProto-Indo-European*wet-(“year”).
Cognates
Cognate withScotsweddir,woddir,wadder(“wether”),Dutchweder,weer(“wether”),GermanWidder(“wether, ram”),Norwegian Bokmålvær(“ram”),Norwegian Nynorskvêr(“ram”),Swedishvädur(“wether, ram”),Icelandicveður(“wether, ram”),Latinvitulus(“calf”).
wether (pluralwethers)
- Acastratedgoat.
- Acastratedram.
c.1596–1598 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act IV, scene i],page179, column 1:I am a taintedWeather of the flocke, / Meeteſt for death, the weakeſt kinde of fruite
Translations to be checked
wether (third-person singular simple presentwethers,present participlewethering,simple past and past participlewethered)
- (transitive) Tocastrate a male sheep or goat.
to castrate a male sheep or goat
wether
- Archaic spelling ofweather.
1527, George Joye,The storie of my state after the bishop had receyued the pryours letters[1]:There was a great fyer in the chamber, thewether was colde, and I saw now and then a Bishop come out;- cited after Samuel Roffey Maitland, 1866, p. 8
