Etymology From Middle English wether, wethir, wedyr, from Old English weþer (“a wether, ram”), from Proto-West Germanic *weþru, from Proto-Germanic *weþruz (“wether”), from Proto-Indo-European *wet- (“year”). Cognates Cognate with Scots weddir, woddir, wadder (“wether”), Dutch weder, weer (“wether”), German Widder (“wether, ram”), Norwegian Bokmål vær (“ram”), Norwegian Nynorsk vêr (“ram”), Swedish vädur (“wether, ram”), Icelandic veður (“wether, ram”), Latin vitulus (“calf”).
1
A castrated goat.
2
A castrated ram.
I am a tainted Weather of the flocke, / Meeteſt for death, the weakeſt kinde of fruitec. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 179, column 1:
Etymology From Middle English wether, wethir, wedyr, from Old English weþer (“a wether, ram”), from Proto-West Germanic *weþru, from Proto-Germanic *weþruz (“wether”), from Proto-Indo-European *wet- (“year”). Cognates Cognate with Scots weddir, woddir, wadder (“wether”), Dutch weder, weer (“wether”), German Widder (“wether, ram”), Norwegian Bokmål vær (“ram”), Norwegian Nynorsk vêr (“ram”), Swedish vädur (“wether, ram”), Icelandic veður (“wether, ram”), Latin vitulus (“calf”).