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WAS, WAST, WERE, WERT, used
as parts of the verb to be. (E.) M.E. pt. t. sing. was, wast,
was; pl. weren or were.—A.S. wesan, infin. to be; whence pt. t. indic.
sing. wæs, wǽre, wæs; pl. wǽran,
wǽron, or wǽrun; pt. t. subj. sing.
wǽre
(for all persons), pl. wǽren or wǽron (for all persons). See
Grein, ii. 664. β. As to the use of was in the 1st and 3rd persons,
there is no difficulty. γ. As to the 2nd person, the A.S. form was
wǽre, whence M.E. were, as in 'thou were betraied,' Chaucer, C. T.
14690. In Wyclif, Mark, xiv. 67, where 7 MSS. read were, one MS. has
was, and another has wast; no doubt was-t was formed (by analogy with
hast) from
the dialectal was, which was prob. Northern. When you came to be
used for thou, the phrase you was took the place of thou was, and is very common
in writings of the 18th century. Cf. I has, Barbour, Bruce, xiii.
652; I is, ye is (Northern dialect), Chaucer, C. T. 4043; thou is, id.
4087. In the subj. mood, the true form is were; hence was formed
wer-t
(by analogy with wast), K. John, iii. 1. 43, ed. 1623. δ. In the
first and third persons singular of the subjunctive, and in the plural, the true
form is were; but the use of were in the singular is gradually becoming
obsolete, except when the conjunction if precedes. The forms
if I
were, if he were, if I be, if he be, if he have, exhibit the clearest surviving
traces of a (grammatically marked) subj. mood in mod. English; and of these, if
he have is almost gone. Some careful writers employ if he do, if it
make, and the like; but it is not improbable that the subjunctive mood will
disappear from the language; the particular phrase if I were will probably
linger the longest. + Du. infin. wezen; indic. sing. was, waart, was; pl.
waren,
waart, waren; subj. sing. ware, waret, ware; pl. waren, waret, waren. + Icel.
infin. vera; indic. sing. var, vart, vas, pl. várum, várut, váru; subj. sing.
væra, værir, væri; pl.
værim, værit, væri. + Dan. infin.
være; indic.
sing. and pl. var; subj. sing. and pl. være. + Swed. infin.
vara; indic. sing.
var; pl. voro, voren, voro; subj. sing. voro; pl. vore, voren,
voro. + Goth. wisan, to be, dwell, remain; pt. t. indic. sing. was, wast, was; dual,
wesu,
wesuts; pl. wesum, wesuth, wesun; subj. sing. wesjau, weseis, wesi; dual,
weseiwa, weseits; pl. weseima, weseith, weseina. + G. pt. t. sing. war, warest
or warst, war; pl. waren, waret, waren; subj. sing. wäre, wärest
or wärst, wäre;
pl. wären, wäret, wären.
B. All from Teut. base WAS, to be,
orig. to dwell.—✔WAS,
to dwell; cf. Skt. vas, to dwell, remain, live; Gk.
ἄσ-τυ, a dwelling-place,
city; Lat. uer-na (for ues-na), a household slave. Fick, iii.
300. Der. wass-ail, q.v. And see
ver-na-c-ul-ar.
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