Etymology
1. O.E.
wefan "form by interlacing yarn" (class V strong verb; past tense
wæf, pp.
wefen), from P.Gmc.
*webanan (cf. O.N.
vefa, M.L.G., M.Du., Du.
weven, O.H.G.
weban, Ger.
weben "to weave"), from PIE
*webh-/*wobh- (cf. Skt.
ubhnati "he laces together," Pers.
baftan "to weave," Gk.
hyphe "web"). Extended sense of "combine into a whole" is from 1380; meaning "go by twisting and turning" is first found 1596. Sense in boxing is from 1818. The noun meaning "method or pattern of weaving" is from 1888.
2. From Middle English weven (“to weave”), from Old English wefan (“to weave”), from Proto-West Germanic *weban, from Proto-Germanic *webaną, from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to weave, braid”).
3. Cognates
4. Cognate with North Frisian weev, weew, weewe (“to weave”), Saterland Frisian weeuwe (“to weave”), Dutch weven (“to weave”), German weben (“to weave”), Luxembourgish wiewen (“to weave”), Yiddish וועבן (vebn, “to weave”), Danish væve (“to weave”), Faroese veva (“to weave”), Icelandic vefa (“to weave”), Norwegian Bokmål veve (“to weave”), Norwegian Nynorsk veva, veve (“to weave”), Swedish väva (“to weave”). See: Middle English '
weven', Old English '
wefan', Frisian, Saterlandic 'weeuwe', Dutch '
weven', German, old spelling '
weben', Luxembourgish '
wiewen', Danish '
væve', Faroese '
veva', Icelandic '
vefa', Norwegian '
veve', Norwegian, nynorsk '
veva', Swedish '
väva'.
Verbs referencing "weave"
English
waffle, English
heft, German, Pennsylvania
wewe, German, old spelling
weben, Norwegian, nynorsk
veva, Dari
بافتن, Luxembourgish
wiewen.