Middle English Dictionary Entry
whāte n.
Entry Info
| Forms | whāte n. Also what, wate, quate, (16th cent.) qwate & (early) hwate, (SW) ȝwate. |
| Etymology | OE hwatu |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Luck, fortune; also, fortune as a causal force, the force of destiny; birthe whates, the chance, sequence, or order of (children’s) births;
(b) the art of divination.
Associated quotations
a
- a1200 Trin.Hom.(Trin-C B.14.52)105 : Þe unbileffulle…Werpeð þat gilt…uppen hwate, and seið, ‘Nahte ich no betere wate.’
- c1300 SLeg.(LdMisc 108)331/274 : Seggez ov-sulf ȝif ȝe euere I-heorden Ani so deolful cas! ho is þat ne may i-leue þat luþur ȝwate it nas?
- c1300 SLeg.(LdMisc 108)331/279 : Woltþov…i-leue þing þat [read: þat þing] comez ase god wole, and no-þing after ȝwate?
- c1325(c1300) Glo.Chron.A (Clg A.11)8519 : He…vorsoc it al out, in luþer time ich drede, Vor gode wate afterward he nadde in none dede.
- c1330(c1250) Floris (Auch)14 : Be hit erli and be hit late, To þi wille þou schalt haue whate [vr. grace].
- ?1316 SMChron.(Roy 12.C.12)163 : To bulden he hevede gode wate [vrr. what, quate]; At Londone he made a yate.
- c1390 St.Greg.(Vrn)74/588 : Þis is a child of goode whate.
- c1400(?c1380) Pearl (Nero A.10)1041 : Vchon in scrypture a name con plye Of Israel barnez, folowande her datez…Þat is to say, as her byrþ-whates.
- c1540(?a1400) Destr.Troy (Htrn 388)13681 : Þen fortune his fall felli aspies, Vnqwemys his qwate, & þe qwele turnys.
b
- a1200 Trin.Hom.(Trin-C B.14.52)11 : Þat is liðer custume þat man leueð get, and þat is after…warienge, and handselne, and time, and hwate, and fele swilche deueles craftes.
- a1400 Cursor (Frf 14)19567 : Quen Simon magus vnderstode atte þe haligast was gode…(of wate he was ful wonder wise) he wende haue boȝt hit for sum pris.