Wynden

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An archaic verb meaning to coil, twist or turn something about in a winding course
2. Old-fashioned term for winding or turning around, as a path or thread curls back on itself
3. Obsolete word describing the act of twisting or revolving something in a sinuous, looping motion

Etymology: Wynden is a Middle English verb, so the story runs through the Old English verb "windan," meaning "to turn, wind, twist, or revolve." That root is ancient and shared across the Germanic languages, and it gives us the modern "wind" in all its senses. Wynden itself is the older, now-obsolete form, found in Middle English texts where the spelling "y" stands in for the sound later written "i." It was used in the sense of turning or winding something around, or of making one's way by a winding path. Because the word is an early form of a verb that survives in modern English in a different spelling and pronunciation, its most useful connection is to "wind" itself. A reader of Chaucer or of later medieval writers would meet wynden with the same basic meaning, while the modern verb has since narrowed and branched into a range of senses, from the twisting of a rope to the coiling of a clock spring.