Wyrd

Did You Know?

• The Wyrd Mons, a mountain on Venus, is named after an 'Anglo-Saxon weaving goddess'.
• Frank Herbert used the word 'weird' in his science-fiction novel Dune to connote power, e.g. a martial art is referred to as 'the Weirding Way'.
• In David Lynch's 1984 film version of Dune, the Weirding Way was modified to become a system of sonic weapons called 'weirding modules'.

Etymology

The Old English word wyrd comes from the Proto-Germanic wurđíz. It shares roots with Old Saxon wurd, Old High German wurt, Old Norse urðr, Dutch worden (meaning to become), and German werden. Going further back, the Proto-Indo-European root wert- means to twist, which is also the source of Latin vertere (turning, rotating). In Proto-Germanic, this became werþan-, carrying the sense of coming to pass, becoming, or being due. The same root appears in weorþ, which carries ideas of origin or worth—covering connotation, price, value, as well as affiliation, identity, esteem, honour, and dignity.

Wyrd itself is a noun built from the Old English verb meaning to come to pass or to become. Its adjectival use emerged in the 15th century, meaning having the power to control destiny. This first appeared in the name of the Weird Sisters, originally the classical Fates. During the Elizabethan period, these figures were separated from their classical origins and reimagined in English as fays. The weird sisters are famously the Three Witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and many editions of the play include a footnote linking them to the Old English wyrd, or fate.

The modern English usage actually comes from Scots. Starting in the 14th century, to weird was used there as a verb meaning to preordain by fate’s decree. This verb later gave rise to an early 19th-century adjective meaning unearthly, which then evolved into the modern English weird. The spelling weird first appeared in Scottish and Northern English dialects in the 16th century and was adopted into standard literary English in the 17th century. The expected form would have been wird, from Early Modern English werd; why werd was replaced by weird in northern dialects is hard to explain.

The most common modern meaning of weird—odd or strange—is first recorded in 1815. At first, it carried a supernatural or portentous feel, especially in the phrase weird and wonderful. But by the early 20th century, it was being used more and more for everyday situations.

Fate in Germanic mythology

Wyrd is the Old English goddess of Fate, a figure that persisted even after Christianity took hold, according to J. Duncan Spaeth. The word is a feminine noun, and its Norse relative urðr means both "fate" and is the name of one of the Norns. This has led some scholars to view Wyrd as a pre-Christian goddess. Others disagree, arguing that in the Old English period, wyrd did not carry a pagan meaning, though they allow it may have been a deity earlier. Some even suggest the three Norns were a late borrowing from the Greek and Roman Moirai, the three fate goddesses.

The Norns are named Urðr, Verðandi, and Skuld. Urðr means "that which has come to pass," Verðandi means "that which is in the process of happening" (the present participle of a verb related to weorþan), and Skuld means "debt" or "guilt," from a Germanic root meaning "to owe," which appears in English "should" and "shall." Together, the Norns weave fate, or ørlǫg, a word built from ór ("out, from, beyond") and lǫg ("law"), literally meaning "beyond law."

According to Voluspa 20, the three Norns "set up the laws," "decided on the lives of the children of time," and "promulgate their ørlǫg." In contrast, Frigg "knows all ørlǫg" but "says it not herself," as stated in Lokasenna 30. The term "ørlǫglausa," meaning "lawless," appears in Voluspa 17, describing driftwood that three gods give breath, warmth, and spirit to create the first humans, Ask and Embla (names meaning "Ash" and possibly "Elm" or "Vine").

Old English literature mentions wyrd in The Wanderer: "Wyrd bið ful aræd" ("Fate remains wholly inexorable"), and in Beowulf: "Gæð a wyrd swa hio scel!" ("Fate goes ever as she shall!"). In The Wanderer, wyrd is unstoppable and harsh, "snatching the earls away from the joys of life." The poem says "the wearied mind of man cannot withstand her," as her decrees "change all the world beneath the heavens."