clewe

Middle English

FWOTD – 20 January 2020

Alternative forms

• clew, clewen, clowe, clue, clwe, clyw, clywe

Etymology

From Old English clīewen, from Proto-Germanic *kliuwīną, *klewô.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkliu̯(ə)/, /ˈkliu̯ən/

Noun

clewe (plural clewes)

1. A clew (“lump or sphere of thread or yarn”).
2. A string of yarn for finding a path.
   • c. 1386–1388 (date written)​, Geffray Chaucer [i.e., Geoffrey Chaucer], “The Legende of Good Women: The Legende of Ariadne of Athenes”, in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […] (in Middle English), [London: […] Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], published 1542, →OCLC, folio ccxxvi, verso, column 1:

     Therto haue I a remedye in my thought / That by a clewe of twyne, as he hath gone / The ſame way he may returne anone / Folowyng alwey yͤ threde as he hath come.

     I’ve thought of a solution for that: / by a string of twine, just as he’s gone, / He can soon return the same way, / Always following the thread the way he came.

Descendants

• English: clew, clue
• Scots: clew, cloo, clue