wilderness
English
WOTD – 23 October 2021
Etymology
From Middle English wildernes, wildernesse (“uninhabited, uncultivated, or wild territory; desolate land; desert; (figuratively) depopulated or devastated place; state of devastation or ruin; human experience and life”) [and other forms],[1] and then either:
- from Middle English wilderne (“deserted or uninhabited place, wilderness; land not yet settled”) [and other forms] (from Old English wilddeōren (“savage, wild”); see below)[2] + -nes, -nesse (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting qualities or states);[3] or
- from Old English *wildēornes, *wilddēornes, probably from wilddēor (“wild animal”) [and other forms] or more likely from wilddeōren (“savage, wild”) (from wilddēor + -en (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘consisting of; material made of’)) + -nes (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting qualities or states).[4]
Wilddēor is derived from wilde (“savage, wild”) (ultimately either from Proto-Indo-European *wel-, *welw- (“hair, wool; ear of corn, grass; forest”), or *gʷʰel- (“wild”)) + dēor (“beast, wild animal”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwes- (“to breathe; breath; soul, spirit; creature”)).
The English word is cognate with Danish vildnis (“wilderness”), German Wildernis, Wildnis (“wilderness”), Middle Dutch wildernisse (“wilderness”) (modern Dutch wildernis (“wilderness”)), Middle Low German wildernisse (“wilderness”) (German Low German Wildernis (“wilderness”)), Saterland Frisian Wüüldernis (“wilderness”), West Frisian wyldernis (“wilderness”).
Sense 3.3 (“situation of disfavour or lack of recognition”) is a reference to Numbers 14:32–33 in the Bible (King James Version; spelling modernized): “But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness.”[5]
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈwɪldənəs/, /-nɪs/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈwɪldɚnəs/
Audio (GA) (file) - Hyphenation: wild‧er‧ness
Noun
wilderness (countable and uncountable, plural wildernesses)
- (uncountable) Uncultivated and unsettled land in its natural state inhabited by wild animals and with vegetation growing wild; (countable) a tract of such land; a waste or wild.
- Synonyms: (chiefly Australia) bushland, (obsolete) wasteness, (obsolete) wastness, wildland, wilds
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, stanza 2, page 272:
- For ſtill he traueild through wide waſtfull ground, / That nought but deſert wilderneſſe ſhewed all around.
- c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, OCLC 55178895, [Act IV, scene iii]:
- O my poore kingdome! ſicke with ciuill blowes: / VVhen that my care could not withhold thy riots, / VVhat wilt thou do when riot is thy care? / O thou wilt be a wilderneſſe againe, / Peopled with woolues, thy old inhabitants.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Job 24:5, column 1:
- Behold, as wilde aſſes in the deſart, goe they foorth to their worke, riſing betimes for a pray: the wildernes yeeldeth food for them; and for their children.
- 1626, [Samuel] Purchas, “Of the Religious Votaries amongst the Turkes, and of Their Saints, Sects, Miracles, and Hypocriticall Holinesse”, in Purchas His Pilgrimes. […], 5th part, London: […] William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], OCLC 960103045, [3rd] book, page 315:
- Strange it is, that he reporteth of the miraculous workes of ſome of them, that they may ſeeme (as he ſaith) incarnate Deuils: […] ſome dwell amongſt men, ſome by themſelues apart, and ſome in Wilderneſſe: […]
- 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], OCLC 228725984; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, OCLC 5190338, page 120:
- Thus they went on talking of what they had ſeen by the way; and ſo made that way eaſie, which would otherwiſe, no doubt, have been tedious to them: for now they went through a Wilderneſs.
- 1785, William Cowper, “Book II. The Time-piece.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], OCLC 228757725, page 45:
- Oh for a lodge in ſome vaſt wilderneſs, / Some boundleſs contiguity of ſhade, / Where rumour of oppreſſion and deceit, / Of unſucceſsful or ſucceſsful war / Might never reach me more.
- 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XIV, in Pride and Prejudice, volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton […], OCLC 38659585, pages 241–242:
- Miss Bennet, there seemed to be a prettyish kind of a little wilderness on one side of your lawn. I should be glad to take a turn in it, if you will favour me with your company.
- 1832, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in Tales of My Landlord, Fourth and Last Series. […], volume IV (Castle Dangerous), Edinburgh: […] [Ballantyne and Company] for Robert Cadell; London: Whittaker and Co., OCLC 81177709, page 220:
- Here they ascended, and anon appeared to descend in the same direction, finding only boundless wildernesses, and varied combinations of tangled woodland scenery.
- 1835, [Washington Irving], chapter X, in A Tour on the Prairies (The Crayon Miscellany; no. 1), Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry Charles] Carey, [Isaac] Lea, & Blanchard, OCLC 557798950, page 68:
- […] I can conceive nothing more likely to set the youthful blood into a flow, than a wild wood life of the kind, and the range of a magnificent wilderness, abounding with game, and fruitful of adventure.
- 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part I”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], OCLC 2024748, page 17:
- Down from the bastion'd walls we dropt by night, / And flying reach'd the frontier: then we crost / To a livelier land; and so by town and thorpe, / And tilth, and blowing bosks of wilderness, / We gain'd the mother-city thick with towers, / And in the imperial palace found the king.
- (by extension)
- (countable) A place other than land (for example, the air or sea) that is uncared for, and therefore devoted to disorder or wildness.
- c. 1588–1593, [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, OCLC 222241046, [Act III, scene i]:
- For now I ſtand as one vpon a rocke, / Inuirond with a wildernes of ſea, / VVho markes the waxing tide, grow waue by waue, / Expecting euer when ſome enuious ſurge, / VVill in his briniſh bowels ſwallow him.
- 1821, Lord Byron, “Cain, a Mystery”, in Sardanapalus, a Tragedy; The Two Foscari, a Tragedy; Cain, a Mystery, London: John Murray, […], OCLC 317087118, Act II, scene i, page 378:
- [W]hat / Is this blue wilderness of interminable / Air, where ye roll along, as I have seen / The leaves along the limpid streams of Eden?
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- (countable, horticulture) An ornamental part of a garden or park cultivated with trees and often a maze to evoke a natural wilderness.
- 1785, William Cowper, “Book I. The Sofa.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], OCLC 228757725, page 19:
- And now with nerves new-brac'd and ſpirits chear'd / We tread the wilderneſs, whoſe well-roll'd walks / With curvature of ſlow and eaſy ſweep, / Deception innocent—give ample ſpace / To narrow bounds.
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- (uncountable, obsolete) Unrefinedness; wildness.
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene i], page 71, column 2:
- What ſhould I thinke, / Heauen ſhield my Mother plaid my Father faire: / For ſuch a warped ſlip of wilderneſſe / Nere iſſu'd from his blood.
- What should I think? / Heaven forbid, my mother must have been unfaithful to my father, / For such a warped descendant of wildness / Never issued from his blood.
- 1674, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], 2nd edition, London: […] S[amuel] Simmons […], OCLC 563123917, page 221:
- Theſe paths & Bowers doubt not but our joynt hands / Will keep from Wilderneſs with eaſe, as wide / As we need walk, till younger hands ere long / Aſſiſt us: […]
-
- (countable) A place other than land (for example, the air or sea) that is uncared for, and therefore devoted to disorder or wildness.
- (countable, figuratively)
- Chiefly followed by of: a bewildering flock or throng; a large, often jumbled, collection of things.
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, OCLC 24594216, [Act III, scene i]:
- Tuball. One of them ſhewed me a ring that hee had of your daughter for a Monkey. / Shy[lock]. Out vpon her, thou tortur'ſt me Tuball, it was my Turkies, I had it of Leah when I was a Batchellor: I would not haue giuen it for a wilderneſſe of Monkies.
- c. 1613 (first performance), John Fletcher, “The Tragedie of Bonduca”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972, Act V, scene i, page 66, column 2:
- [T]he virgins thou haſt rob'd of all their wiſhes, / blaſted their blowing hopes, turn'd their ſongs, / their mirthful Marriage-ſongs to Funerals, / the Land thou haſt left a wilderneſſe of wretches.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554, lines 291–294:
- Thir glittering Tents he paſsd, and now is come / Into the bliſsful field, through Groves of Myrrhe, / And flouring Odours, Caſſia, Nard, and Balme; / A Wilderneſs of ſweets; […]
- 1824 March 26, [Lord Byron], Don Juan. Cantos XV. and XVI., London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for John and H[enry] L[eigh] Hunt, […], OCLC 560104685, canto XVI, stanza III, page 62:
- And as she treats all things, and ne'er retreats / From any thing, this Epic will contain / A wilderness of the most rare conceits, / Which you might elsewhere hope to find in vain.
- 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “Mr. Dombey Goes upon a Journey”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, OCLC 145080417, page 199:
- Tortured by these thoughts he carried monotony with him, through the rushing landscape, and hurried headlong, not through a rich and varied country, but a wilderness of blighted plans and gnawing jealousies.
- 1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, “Little Mother”, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, OCLC 83401042, book the first (Poverty), page 72:
- He had but glanced away at the piles of city roofs and chimneys among which the smoke was rolling heavily, and at the wilderness of masts on the river, and the wilderness of steeples on the shore, indistinctly mixed together in the stormy haze, when she was again as quiet as if she had been plying her needle in his mother's room.
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- A place or situation that is bewildering and in which one may get lost.
- 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], OCLC 228725984; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, OCLC 5190338, page 1:
- As I walk'd through the wilderneſs of this world, I lighted on a certain place, where was a Denn; And I laid me down in that place to ſleep: And as I ſlept I dreamed a Dream.
- 1813, Lord Byron, The Giaour, a Fragment of a Turkish Tale, London: […] T[homas] Davison, […], for John Murray, […], OCLC 4561022, page 28:
- If solitude succeed to grief, / Release from pain is slight relief; / The vacant bosom's wilderness / Might thank the pang that made it less.
- 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “The Flight of Florence”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, OCLC 145080417, page 473:
- Where to go? Still somewhere, anywhere! still going on; but where! She thought of the only other time she had been lost in the wide wilderness of London—though not lost as now—and went that way. To the home of Walter's uncle.
- 1868, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “Burdens”, in Little Women: Or, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, part first, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1869, OCLC 30743985, pages 59–60:
- The dim, dusty room, with the busts staring down from the tall book-cases, the cosy chairs, the globes, and, best of all, the wilderness of books, in which she could wander where she liked, made the library a region of bliss to her.
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- Often preceded by in the: a situation of disfavour or lack of recognition; (specifically, politics) of a politician, political party, etc.: a situation of being out of office.
- 2015, Dermot McEvoy, “How Michael Collins Helped Save Winston Churchill’s Career”, in Irish Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Ireland, New York, N.Y.: Skyhorse Publishing, →ISBN:
- After the firm establishment of the Irish Free State, [Winston] Churchill would continue to hold office until the depression. Then, he found himself in the political wilderness. But, unlike [David] Lloyd George, he would not find himself tripping to Berchtesgaden to prostrate himself before Adolf Hitler in admiration. Perhaps he had learned something from Michael Collins—never bend the knee to the tyrant.
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- Chiefly followed by of: a bewildering flock or throng; a large, often jumbled, collection of things.
Alternative forms
- wildernesse (obsolete)
Derived terms
- call in the wilderness, voice in the wilderness, voice calling in the wilderness
- cry in the wilderness, voice crying in the wilderness
- nonwilderness
- wilderness program
- wilderness therapy
- wilderness treatment center
Translations
uncultivated and unsettled land in its natural state; a tract of such land
|
place other than land that is uncared for
ornamental part of a garden or park cultivated with trees and often a maze to evoke a natural wilderness
bewildering flock or throng; a large, often jumbled, collection of things
place or situation that is bewildering and in which one may get lost
a situation of disfavour or lack of recognition
of a politician, political party, etc.: a situation of being out of office
References
- “wī̆ldernes(se, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- “wī̆lderne, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- “-nes(se, suf.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- “wilderness, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2021; “wilderness, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022. - The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, OCLC 964384981, Numbers 14:32–33, column 1: “But as for you, your carkaſes, they ſhall fall in this wilderneſſe. And your children ſhall wander in the wildernes forty yeres, and beare your whoredomes, until your carkaſes be waſted in the wilderneſſe.”.
Further reading
wilderness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia