Word Origins | Vesvese

Vesvese: apprehension[1], anxiety / solicitude / worry / qualm [2], vagary [3], suspicion [4], dread [5] EN i. (fromAR. vesvese) (ﻭﺳﻮﺳﻪ) Nefsin gönüle getirdiği boş, faydasız ve huzursuzluk verici şeyler, vehim, kuruntu, şüphe, işkil: Şeyhler ittifak etmişlerdir ki haram lokma yiyenler vesvese ile ilhâmın arasını ayırt edemezler (Kuşeyrî Risâlesi Terc.). Sandalcı Sohbet, Acem Ali Bey’in bıraktığı yerde merak ve vesvese içinde… (Ahmed Midhat Efendi). Beni merâka, vesveseye düşüren bu noktaları o zaman şuurla vâzıh bir sûrette görmemiştim (Refik H. Karay).

Vesvese-dar (ﻭﺳﻮﺳﻪ ﺩﺍﺭ) birl. sıf. (Fars. dār “sâhip ve mâlik olan” ile) Vesveseli, kuruntulu.

Vesvese-engiz (ﻭﺳﻮﺳﻪ ﺍﻧﮕﻴﺰ) birl. sıf. (Fars. engіz “koparan” ile) Vesveseye sebep olan.

Vesvese-hiz (ﻭﺳﻮﺳﻪ ﺧﻴﺰ) birl. sıf. (Fars. ḫіz “atan, kaldıran” ile) Kuruntu veren: Ey meh leyâl-i vesvese-hîz-i firâkta / Sen gelmeyince hâtıra görsen neler gelir (Nâbî’den).

Vesveselenmek: dönüşlü f. (< vesvese+len-mek) halk ağzı. Vesveseye kapılmak, kuruntuya düşmek.

Vesveseli: sıf. Kuruntulu, şüpheci, işkilli: Bak, sen ne vesveseli adamsın! (Peyâmi Safâ). Ben birdenbire vesveseli, kıskanç, haşin bir şark erkeği oluvermiştim (Safiye Erol). İbrâhim Efendi gibi kurnaz, vesveseli ve umur görmüş bir adam, nasıl olur da kendisine “olmuş armut” gözüyle bakan dâmatlarına teslim olur (Sâmiha Ayverdi).

[1] apprehension (n.) late 14c., "perception, comprehension," from Old French apreension "comprehension, something learned" or directly from Latin apprehensionem (nominative apprehensio), noun of action from past-participle stem of apprehendere "take hold of, grasp" physically or mentally, from ad "to" (see ad-) + prehendere "to seize" (from prae- "before;" see pre- + -hendere, from PIE root *ghend- "to seize, take"). Sense of "seizure on behalf of authority" is 1570s; that of "anticipation" (usually with dread), "fear of the future" is from c. 1600.

[2] anxiety (n.) 1520s, "apprehension caused by danger, misfortune, or error, uneasiness of mind respecting some uncertainty, a restless dread of some evil," from Latin anxietatem (nominative anxietas) "anguish, anxiety, solicitude," noun of quality from anxius "uneasy, troubled in mind" (see anxious).

solicitude (n.) early 15c., "diligence, industry, activity; anxiety, care, concern," from Old French solicitude (Modern French sollicitude), and directly from Latin sollicitudinem (nominative solicitudo) "anxiety, uneasiness of mind," noun of state from past-participle stem of solicitare (see solicit).

Sometimes considered a pathological condition (1660s); psychiatric use dates to 1904. Age of Anxiety is from Auden's poem (1947). For "anxiety, distress," Old English had angsumnes, Middle English anxumnesse.

worry (v.) c. 1300, wirien, "to slay, kill or injure by biting and shaking the throat" (as a dog or wolf does), from Old English wyrgan "to strangle," from Proto-Germanic *wurgjan (source also of Middle Dutch worghen, Dutch worgen, Old High German wurgen, German würgen "to strangle," Old Norse virgill "rope"), from *wergh-, from PIE root *wer- (2) "to turn, bend."

The "strangle" sense generally was obsolete in English after c. 1600; the figurative meaning "to annoy, bother, vex" is by c. 1400. Meaning "to cause mental distress or trouble" is attested from 1822; intransitive sense of "to feel anxiety or mental trouble" is attested by 1860.  Related: Worried; worrier; worrying.

qualm (n.) Middle English, from Old English cwealm, cwelm (West Saxon) "death, murder, slaughter; disaster; widespread death by plague, pestilence or illness affecting humans or livestock; torment," utcualm (Anglian) "utter destruction," probably related to cwellan "to kill, murder, execute," cwelan "to die" (see quell).

The sense softened to "feeling of faintness" (1520s); the figurative meaning "uneasiness, doubt" is from 1550s; that of "a scruple of conscience" is from 1640s.

Evidence of a direct path from the Old English and Middle English senses (now obsolete) to the modern senses is wanting (OED 2nd edition has them as separate entries), and the old word seems to have become rare after c. 1400. But it is plausible, via the notion of "fit of sickness." The other suggested etymology, less satisfying, is to take the "fit of uneasiness" sense from Dutch kwalm "steam, vapor, mist" (cognate with German Qualm "smoke, vapor, stupor"), which also might be ultimately from the same Germanic root as quell.

[3] vagary (n.) 1570s, "a wandering, a roaming journey," from Italian vagare or directly from Latin vagari "to wander, stroll about, roam, be unsettled, spread abroad," from vagus "roving, wandering" (see vague). The infinitive appears to have been adopted in English as a noun and conformed to nouns in -ary, "but this can hardly be explained except as an orig. university use" [Century Dictionary]. Current meaning of "eccentric notion or conduct" (1620s) is from notion of mental wandering.

[4] suspicion (n.) c. 1300, "act of suspecting; unverified conjecture of wrongdoing; mistrust, distrust," from Anglo-French suspecioun, corresponding to Old French suspicion, sospeçon "mistrust, suspicion" (Modern French soupçon), from Late Latin suspectionem (nominative suspectio) "mistrust, suspicion, fear, awe," noun of state from past participle stem of Latin suspicere "look up at" (see suspect (adj.)). Spelling in English influenced 14c. by learned Old French forms closer to Latin suspicionem. Used as a verb meaning "to suspect," it figures in literary representations of U.S. Western (Kentucky) slang from 1830s.

"Suspicion" words in other Indo-European languages also tend to be words for "think" or "look" with prefixes meaning "under, behind;" such as Greek hypopsia (hypo "under," opsis "sight"), hyponoia (noein "to think"); Lettish aizduomas (aiz "behind," duomat "think"); Russian podozrenie (Slavic podu "under," Old Church Slavonic zireti "see, look"); Dutch achterdocht (achter "behind," denken "to think").

[5] dread (v.) late 12c., "to fear very much, be in shrinking apprehension or expectation of," a shortening of Old English adrædan, contraction of ondrædan "counsel or advise against," also "to dread, fear, be afraid," from ond-, and- "against" (the same first element in answer, from PIE root *ant-) + rædan "to advise" (from PIE root *re- "to reason, count"). Cognate of Old Saxon andradon, Old High German intraten. Related: Dreaded; dreading.

As a noun from c. 1200, "great fear or apprehension; cause or object of apprehension." As a past-participle adjective (from the former strong past participle), "dreaded, frightful," c.1400; later "held in awe" (early 15c.).