unwieldy

英文词源

unwieldy

unwieldy: [14] Unwieldy originally meant ‘weak, feeble’ (‘a toothless, old, impotent, and unwieldy woman’, Reginald Scot, Discovery of Witch-craft 1584). The meaning ‘awkward to handle’ developed in the 16th century. The word was based on the now seldom encountered wieldy, which evolved from Old English wielde ‘active, vigorous’. This in turn went back to the Germanic base *walth- ‘have power’, source also of English herald and wield.
=> herald, wield

unwieldy (adj.)

late 14c., "lacking strength, powerless," from un- (1) "not" + obsolete wieldy, from Old English wielde "active, vigorous," from Proto-Germanic *walth- "have power" (see wield (v.)). Meaning "moving ungracefully" is recorded from 1520s; in reference to weapons, "difficult to handle, awkward by virtue of size or shape" it is attested from 1540s. Related: Unwieldiness.