Thanks for the great response. When I hear the word “beguile” I always think of Salome,and now I know why. Since I’m writing about a witch I’m going to use “beguile”.
Ængelfolc:
September 23rd, 2012 at 6:31 pm
To Add–the word’s first roots are Germanic. Old French got the word from Frankish. The spelling changed because Germanic “w-” becomes Romance “gu-“; . O.N.Fr. speakers(Normans being Germanic [Norse Vikings], said the Frankish “w” without a hitch, since the first tongue of their forebearers was Old Norse (likely Danish). English, a lot of times, took in both spellings; see warranty & guarantee, Sp. guerilla, among other Germanic Romance words.
O.E. be- “thoroughly” (+) O.Fr. guile “wile, trick”, which is from Frankish *wigila “trick, ruse.” Guile is akin to O.E. w?l “trick.” See O.N.Fr. *wile, which is the same word < from O.N. vél "trick, craft". M.E. word was bigilen.
O.Fr. gave English the same word back with a French spelling and uttering: wile and guile. Wile was already in English before hand.
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margie:
June 27th, 2012 at 10:26 am
Thanks for the great response. When I hear the word “beguile” I always think of Salome,and now I know why. Since I’m writing about a witch I’m going to use “beguile”.
Ængelfolc:
September 23rd, 2012 at 6:31 pm
To Add–the word’s first roots are Germanic. Old French got the word from Frankish. The spelling changed because Germanic “w-” becomes Romance “gu-“; . O.N.Fr. speakers(Normans being Germanic [Norse Vikings], said the Frankish “w” without a hitch, since the first tongue of their forebearers was Old Norse (likely Danish). English, a lot of times, took in both spellings; see warranty & guarantee, Sp. guerilla, among other Germanic Romance words.
O.E. be- “thoroughly” (+) O.Fr. guile “wile, trick”, which is from Frankish *wigila “trick, ruse.” Guile is akin to O.E. w?l “trick.” See O.N.Fr. *wile, which is the same word < from O.N. vél "trick, craft". M.E. word was bigilen.
O.Fr. gave English the same word back with a French spelling and uttering: wile and guile. Wile was already in English before hand.