Weorm

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic Old English term for a worm, grub, or serpent, used in early English texts to name a creeping or crawling creature
2. A word from Old English meaning a worm or snake, a creeping creature that appears in historical writings from the early medieval period
3. Old English for a worm or serpent, a term found in early medieval texts to describe a creeping, coiling, or legless animal

Etymology: In Old English, "weorm" covered a wide range of creatures: a serpent, a dragon, or any small creeping thing. The same word could name a grub in the soil or the monster guarding a hoard. Beowulf's final opponent is called a "wyrm" in the poem, a fire-breathing dragon the aging hero fights in his last battle. The word goes back to a Proto-Germanic form, "wurmiz", and it has close relatives across the Germanic languages, including Old Norse "ormr" (serpent), Old High German "wurm", and Gothic "waurms". It also shares an ancestor with Latin "vermis", worm. Over the centuries the meaning narrowed in Modern English to the earthworm and similar crawling creatures, while "wyrm" survived as an archaic or poetic word for a dragon or serpent.