To gradually decrease in size, strength, or intensity, as the moon diminishes from full to new — from Old English wanian (to diminish), Proto-Germanic *wanōną, PIE *h₁weh₂- (empty, lacking).
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Old Englishc. 700–1100 CEwell-attested
TheEnglish verb 'wane' descends from Old English wanian, meaning to diminish, decrease, lessen, or dwindle. This verb appears with particularforce in the elegiac poetry of the period. In poems such as The Wanderer and The Ruin, wanian evokes the irreversible decline of earthly things — kingdoms crumble, halls fall silent,
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When Middle Englishborrowed 'want' from Old Norse vanta, it meant to lack — not to desire. 'He wants for nothing' still preserves this original sense. Wanton follows the same logic: Old English wantowen means literally 'lackingdiscipline' (wan- + towen, led/drawn). The desire sense of want is a secondary drift; the
). Old English wanian derives from Proto-Germanic *wanōną, meaning to diminish or to be lacking, from the adjective *wanaz (lacking, deficient). This root connects to Old Norse vana (to diminish), Gothic wans (lacking). The deeper ancestor is PIE *h₁weh₂- or *wan-, carrying the sense of emptiness. This same PIE root yields 'want' (originally meaning 'to lack' — from ON vanta), and 'wanton' (OE wantowen = wan- lacking + towen discipline = lacking discipline). In German the root drifted semantically: Wahn means delusion, a state of being without true perception. The PIE root also reached Latin as vanus (empty), giving English 'vain', 'vanish', 'vaunt' — all expressions of emptiness cognate with Germanic wane. Key roots: *h₁weh₂- / *wan- (Proto-Indo-European: "empty, lacking — ancestral to Germanic wane/want/wanton and Latin vanus/vain/vanish"), *wanōną (Proto-Germanic: "to diminish, to be lacking — from *wanaz (deficient, empty)").