Etymology From Middle English wīten (“to accuse, reproach, punish, suspect”), Old English wītan (“to look, behold, see, guard, keep, impute or ascribe to, accuse, reproach, blame”), from Proto-West Germanic *wītan, from Proto-Germanic *wītaną. Connected to Old English wīte, see below.
1
To regard (someone) as guilty; to accuse; to blame; to fault.
[H]e gan fovvly vvyte / His vvicked fortune, that had turnd aſlope, / And curſed night, that reſt from him ſo goodly ſcope.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 52, page 459:
2
To censure (someone); to mulct; to reproach.
[U]niuſtly thou doeſt vvyte them all, / For that vvhich thou miſlikedſt in a fevv.1595, Ed. Spencer [i.e., Edmund Spenser], Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, signature D3, verso:
3
To guard (something); to keep; to observe, preserve, or protect.
wite
noun
Etymology From Middle English wite (“guilt, blameworthiness, blame, wrongdoing, misdeed, offense, punishment, retribution, fine, bote, customary rent”), from Old English wīte (“punishment, pain, torment”), from Proto-West Germanic *wītī, from Proto-Germanic *wītiją, from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, find, behold”).
1
Blame; responsibility; guilt.
Nor I will not suffer mine indignation so to witwanton with fair justice as persuade me to put the wite on Witchland.1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, chapter 209, in The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC:
2
Punishment; penalty; fine; bote; mulct.
wite
verb
Etymology From Middle English witen, from Old English wītan (“to see, accuse, go, depart”), from Proto-West Germanic *wītan, from Proto-Germanic *wītaną, from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see, find, behold”).