keep one’s wits about one








<

v.

“know,” Old English witan “to know,” from Proto-Germanic *witanan “to have seen,” hence “to know” (cf. Old Saxon witan, Old Norse vita, Old Frisian wita, Middle Dutch, Dutch weten, Old High German wizzan, German wissen, Gothic witan “to know”); see wit (n.). The phrase to wit, almost the only surviving use of the verb, is first recorded 1570s, from earlier that is to wit (mid-14c.), probably a loan-translation of Anglo-French cestasavoir, used to render Latin videlicet (see viz.).

see have one’s wits about one.

see at one’s wit’s end; have one’s wits about one; live by one’s wits; scare out of one’s wits; to wit.

55 queries 0.563