weorc

• worc — Northumbrian, West Saxon
• werc, wærc — Mercian

From Proto-West Germanic *werk, from Proto-Germanic *werką, from Proto-Indo-European *wérǵom.

Cognate with Old Frisian werk, Old Saxon werk, Old High German werk, Old Norse verk. Non-Germanic cognates include Ancient Greek ἔργον (érgon).

• IPA^(key): /we͜ork/, [we͜orˠk]

weorc n

1. work, in various senses, including:
   1. labor
      • c. 996, Ælfric's Lives of Saints

        Þā ēode sē prēost eft tō his weorce.

        Then the priest went back to his work.

   2. a creation, such as a building or a work of art
   3. act, deed

      Weorc sprecaþ swīðor þonne word.

      Actions speak louder than words.

• Occasionally appears to carry the sense "pain," but these instances are probably the result of scribal confusion by West Saxons unfamiliar with the Anglian word wærċ.[1]

• andweorc (“material”)
• æcerweorc (“fieldwork”)
• bōcweorc (“literary work, study”)
• cræftweorc (“skilled labor”)
• dæġweorc (“a day's work”)
• ġeweorc (“work”)
• handweorc (“manual labor”)
• inweorc (“indoor work”)
• on weorce (“at work”)
• stānweorc (“stonework”)
• þēowweorc (“slave work”)
• weorccræft (“mechanics”)
• weorcdæġ (“workday”)
• weorchūs (“workshop”)
• weorcstān (“stone for building”)
• weorcsum (“laborious”)
• weorcwierþe (“qualified, able-bodied”)
• weorcþēow (“work-slave”)

• handġeweorc
• wyrċan (“to work”)
• wyrhta (“worker”)

• Middle English: werk, wirk, work
  • English: work
  • Geordie English: wark
  • Scots: wark
  • Yola: woork