verwesen

German

Etymology

From Middle High German verwësen, Old High German *firwësan (to come to nothing, pass away, destroy). Cognate with Old Norse visinn (faded, decayed), Old English weornian (to destroy), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐍅𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌽 (frawisan, to consume, waste, squander). Compare Latin virus, Ancient Greek ἰός (iós), Sanskrit विष (viṣa, poison).[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fɛɐ̯ˈveːzn̩/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: ver‧we‧sen

Verb

verwesen (weak, third-person singular present verwest, past tense verweste, past participle verwest, auxiliary sein)

  1. to decay
  2. to decompose
  3. (archaic) to administer, to conduct, to govern, to manage. Refer to the prefix ver- (English for-) + wesen (archaic for to be), meaning to manage things existing in a kingdom.

Conjugation

Derived terms

References

  1. Friedrich Kluge (1883) “verwesen”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

Further reading

  • verwesen” in Duden online
  • verwesen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
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