I like went as past tense of wend especially for 21st century use. Let just put the wend back into went, and keep is easy to say.
Wendy Went:
January 10th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Also it would be nice, as a side note, to correctly say, Wendy went her way through wormwood woods.
Jim:
February 28th, 2013 at 5:36 am
I found this discussion because I was wondering about the past tense of “wend”… “wended” sounds too clumsy. Frankly, I was hoping to find that it was “wound”, which I think would still be a reasonable substitute, considering the etymology of both words in the sense of “turning”.
Elizabeth R.:
August 5th, 2014 at 1:42 pm
I had wished that the past tense of “wend” was “wend”. Perhaps if English were more concerned with the aesthetic, or if there were a governing Academy as the French have, “wended” would be as incorrect as it is clumsy.
As it is, I hope this word will continue to be available to describe going or returning in a meandering way, rather than relegated to an archaic status.
Rachel Lewis:
August 3rd, 2015 at 4:07 am
I don’t think wended is aesthetically offensive. We have mend and mended. Obviously ment would be unfortunate as the past tense of mend as we have to mean and meant. I looked up wend because I was reading and I just had that moment when you see a word in all its strangeness and WENT did that to me :-) I’m delighted it’s rooted in wend.
Danny S.:
August 5th, 2015 at 6:16 pm
WEND is also used in some programming languages. I know, it is (officially) a contraction of “while end”, and so not actually the venerable verb discussed here at all. But it always suggests to me “wend your way” back to the beginning of the loop.
I came here after reading this sentence which seemed absurd to me:
“…construction is a journey that starts with the big picture and then winds its way to the details.”
I have always used wend and never thought it archaic. Regardless of the above history on the word, and its demise, I find I still have a hard time with the wording in that sentence.
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Wendy Went:
January 10th, 2011 at 6:32 pm
I like went as past tense of wend especially for 21st century use. Let just put the wend back into went, and keep is easy to say.
Wendy Went:
January 10th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Also it would be nice, as a side note, to correctly say, Wendy went her way through wormwood woods.
Jim:
February 28th, 2013 at 5:36 am
I found this discussion because I was wondering about the past tense of “wend”… “wended” sounds too clumsy. Frankly, I was hoping to find that it was “wound”, which I think would still be a reasonable substitute, considering the etymology of both words in the sense of “turning”.
Elizabeth R.:
August 5th, 2014 at 1:42 pm
I had wished that the past tense of “wend” was “wend”. Perhaps if English were more concerned with the aesthetic, or if there were a governing Academy as the French have, “wended” would be as incorrect as it is clumsy.
As it is, I hope this word will continue to be available to describe going or returning in a meandering way, rather than relegated to an archaic status.
Rachel Lewis:
August 3rd, 2015 at 4:07 am
I don’t think wended is aesthetically offensive. We have mend and mended. Obviously ment would be unfortunate as the past tense of mend as we have to mean and meant. I looked up wend because I was reading and I just had that moment when you see a word in all its strangeness and WENT did that to me :-) I’m delighted it’s rooted in wend.
Danny S.:
August 5th, 2015 at 6:16 pm
WEND is also used in some programming languages. I know, it is (officially) a contraction of “while end”, and so not actually the venerable verb discussed here at all. But it always suggests to me “wend your way” back to the beginning of the loop.
Lynda:
September 21st, 2015 at 11:40 am
I came here after reading this sentence which seemed absurd to me:
“…construction is a journey that starts with the big picture and then winds its way to the details.”
I have always used wend and never thought it archaic. Regardless of the above history on the word, and its demise, I find I still have a hard time with the wording in that sentence.