Etymograph

English

weeping

Weeping comes from Middle English wepen ‘something adopted as a weapon’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *wēpną.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wēpną1‘weapon’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wāpn1‘weapon’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wēpn1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wepen1‘something adopted as a weapon’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wepynge1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2013weeping1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English weeping
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2013, Peter McAra, A World Apart: “For a man raised since birth to be strong,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wēpnąWiktionary, English weeping‘weapon’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wāpnWiktionary, English weeping‘weapon’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wēpnWiktionary, English weeping
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wepenWiktionary, English weeping‘something adopted as a weapon’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wepyngeWiktionary, English weeping
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2013weepingWiktionary, English weeping. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2013, Peter McAra, A World Apart: “For a man raised since birth to be strong,…”

Linked words

through Middle English wepen ‘something adopted as a weapon’

weapon, 2 more

Today it means

verb Action of the verb to weep.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “weeping”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *wēpną / weeping

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