"wind its way" vs "wend its way"

[Tacia]

Ladies and Gentlemen,

(a) to wind its way through/along somewhere: if a road, river etc winds somewhere, it has many smooth bends and is usually very long
(b) to wend its/one's way through/along somewhere: to move or travel slowly from one place to another

(Definitions quoted from /Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English/)


From what I can gather, in either structure, the subject can be 1) a river, a creek, or the like; 2) a road, a highway, or the like; 3) a snake.

What follows are my questions regarding the senses quoted above.

* * * * * * * * * *

Question 1:

Only the structure of "to wend its/one's way" can take as its subject [Person/People] or [Thing(s) other than River/Road], while the latter wording is a figure of speech.
Does this statement hold true?

i) Reluctant to overstay my welcome, I thank him for the visit and wend my way home.

ii) [S]hareholders have filed lawsuits against many of the companies and their officers. Such suits are likely to take a couple of years to wend their way through the legal system.
(--> from the shareholders to the competent court)

iii) As the season winds to a close: the crisp, auburn, yellow spackled maple leaves wend their swift yet languid way to the beckoning earth[.]
(--> from the tree branch to the earth)

(Sentences quoted from /Corpus of Contemporary American English/)

* * * * * * * * * *

Question 2:

The subject of "to wind its way" is tangible, while the subject of "to wend its way" can be either tangible or intangible/abstract (e.g. Corpus sentence ii, voice/sound, one's mind, etc).
Does this statement hold true?

* * * * * * * * * *

Question 3:

Does the usage of "to wend its/one's way" imply "long distance" and "long time" literally/figuratively? Does it apply to short distance? Does it apply to both crowded and spacious space?
Kindly click the following link (an image file), and see whether the sentences made by myself make sense or not.

[ https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GG5An6Ywp-eQrU5_WVvQsWqNQ9TKKXpX/view?usp=sharing ]




Chinese New Year started from last Friday (the sixteenth of February). Here's hoping that each AUEer has a rosy year ahead!


Best Wishes,
Tacia

[snide...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, February 20, 2018 at 3:10:42 PM UTC-8, Tacia wrote:

[In addition to trimming, I've used the ENTER key to reformat
GG's only-sorta-flowed lines.]

> Question 3:
>
> Does the usage of "to wend its/one's way" imply "long distance" and
> "long time" literally/figuratively? Does it apply to short distance?
> Does it apply to both crowded and spacious space?
> Kindly click the following link (an image file),
> and see whether the sentences made by myself make sense or not.
>
> [ https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GG5An6Ywp-eQrU5_WVvQsWqNQ9TKKXpX/view?usp=sharing ]

For me, wend can be either for long distance or for leisurely pace.
That fits with your 2 bottom pictures.
[I would use "at their own pace" instead of "in ...", BTW]

I won't say your other examples are wrong,
but I don't think I would use them unless I was trying for an effect
that isn't my normal style.
I might be more likely to say "crawl", even if I remained standing.

Those top 2 pictures remind me of getting through the hallway
when I was in junior high, a few celestial cycles ago.
Generally trying to move faster than the crowd.
And that idea brings up an image of Indiana Jones (Ep 1,the marketplace).
Hmmm, I might go with "slip through the crowd".

[In your next sentence, I'd probably leave out "from".]

> Chinese New Year started from last Friday (the sixteenth of February).
> Here's hoping that each AUEer has a rosy year ahead!

Thank you, and I hope your year is one to celebrate.


/dps

[Madrigal Gurneyhalt]

On Tuesday, 20 February 2018 23:59:50 UTC, snide...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Tuesday, February 20, 2018 at 3:10:42 PM UTC-8, Tacia wrote:
>
> [In addition to trimming, I've used the ENTER key to reformat
> GG's only-sorta-flowed lines.]
>
> > Question 3:
> >
> > Does the usage of "to wend its/one's way" imply "long distance" and
> > "long time" literally/figuratively? Does it apply to short distance?
> > Does it apply to both crowded and spacious space?
> > Kindly click the following link (an image file),
> > and see whether the sentences made by myself make sense or not.
> >
> > [ https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GG5An6Ywp-eQrU5_WVvQsWqNQ9TKKXpX/view?usp=sharing ]
>
> For me, wend can be either for long distance or for leisurely pace.

It's really neither. 'Wend' simply means 'go/travel' which is why its past
form 'went' is so familiar to us all. To indicate distance or pace it requires
some additional qualifiers as in "wend his weary way".

[Jerry Friedman]

On Tuesday, February 20, 2018 at 4:10:42 PM UTC-7, Tacia wrote:
> Ladies and Gentlemen,
>
> (a) to wind its way through/along somewhere: if a road, river etc winds somewhere, it has many smooth bends and is usually very long
> (b) to wend its/one's way through/along somewhere: to move or travel slowly from one place to another

First I'd like to remark that one can be a brilliant speaker and
writer without ever using the word "wend" in one's life.

> (Definitions quoted from /Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English/)
>
>
> From what I can gather, in either structure, the subject can be 1) a river, a creek, or the like; 2) a road, a highway, or the like; 3) a snake.
>
> What follows are my questions regarding the senses quoted above.
>
> * * * * * * * * * *
>
> Question 1:
>
> Only the structure of "to wend its/one's way" can take as its subject [Person/People] or [Thing(s) other than River/Road], while the latter wording is a figure of speech.
> Does this statement hold true?

Yes, if "the latter wording" is "wind its way".

> i) Reluctant to overstay my welcome, I thank him for the visit and wend my way home.
>
> ii) [S]hareholders have filed lawsuits against many of the companies and their officers. Such suits are likely to take a couple of years to wend their way through the legal system.
> (--> from the shareholders to the competent court)

From the initial filing of the suit with the competent court to
a verdict.

> iii) As the season winds to a close: the crisp, auburn, yellow spackled maple leaves wend their swift yet languid way to the beckoning earth[.]
> (--> from the tree branch to the earth)
>
> (Sentences quoted from /Corpus of Contemporary American English/)

Isn't that fun?

I checked sentence iii and was relieved to see that it seemed to
be a parody.

> * * * * * * * * * *
>
> Question 2:
>
> The subject of "to wind its way" is tangible, while the subject of "to wend its way" can be either tangible or intangible/abstract (e.g. Corpus sentence ii, voice/sound, one's mind, etc).
> Does this statement hold true?

It's on the write track, though I hesitate to say there are any limits
on what words can be used figuratively about abstractions.

> * * * * * * * * * *
>
> Question 3:
>
> Does the usage of "to wend its/one's way" imply "long distance" and "long time" literally/figuratively? Does it apply to short distance? Does it apply to both crowded and spacious space?
> Kindly click the following link (an image file), and see whether the sentences made by myself make sense or not.
>
> [ https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GG5An6Ywp-eQrU5_WVvQsWqNQ9TKKXpX/view?usp=sharing ]

Crowd: Your use of "wend" is fine. Going from "my family" to "our"
is okay in casual contexts, I'd say.

Aisle: Again "wend" is fine. I'd say "through the crowd in the
aisle" or "between the people in the aisle". "Through the people
in the aisle" suggests "through each person" (painful!) to me, but
some may disagree.

Hikers: Fine.

Gallery: It's "at their own pace" (not "in"). I'm feeling some
need for an adverbial word or phrase, such as "wended their way
through", but I could be wrong.

> Chinese New Year started from last Friday (the sixteenth of February). Here's hoping that each AUEer has a rosy year ahead!

*googles* Happy Year of the Earth Dog!

--
Jerry Friedman

[Lewis]

In message <e0674b9e-83b9-41e2...@googlegroups.com> snide...@gmail.com <snide...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tuesday, February 20, 2018 at 3:10:42 PM UTC-8, Tacia wrote:

> [In addition to trimming, I've used the ENTER key to reformat
> GG's only-sorta-flowed lines.]

>> Question 3:
>>
>> Does the usage of "to wend its/one's way" imply "long distance" and
>> "long time" literally/figuratively? Does it apply to short distance?
>> Does it apply to both crowded and spacious space?
>> Kindly click the following link (an image file),
>> and see whether the sentences made by myself make sense or not.
>>
>> [ https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GG5An6Ywp-eQrU5_WVvQsWqNQ9TKKXpX/view?usp=sharing ]

> For me, wend can be either for long distance or for leisurely pace.
> That fits with your 2 bottom pictures.
> [I would use "at their own pace" instead of "in ...", BTW]

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

That's the snippet that always comes to mind for me with 'wends'; a
leisurely, perhaps weary, journey. Oh, and an indirect journey. It
doesn't have to be a long journey, but it can't be short.

--
I AM NOT A 32 YEAR OLD WOMAN Bart chalkboard Ep. 7F08

[Lewis]

No, the definition for wend is "go in a specified direction, typically
slowly or by an indirect route: they wended their way across the city."

(both in NOAD and ODE)

--
Sometimes the gods have no taste at all. They allow sunrises and sunsets
in ridiculous pink and blue hues that any professional artist would
dismiss as the work of some enthusiastic amateur who'd never looked at a
real sunset. This was one of those sunrises. It was the kind of sunrise
a man looks at and says, 'No real sunrise could paint the sky Surgical
Appliance Pink.' Nevertheless, it was beautiful. --The Thief of Time

[Lewis]

In message <f68cf9bd-2840-49b1...@googlegroups.com> Jerry Friedman <jerry_f...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Tuesday, February 20, 2018 at 4:10:42 PM UTC-7, Tacia wrote:
>> Ladies and Gentlemen,
>>
>> (a) to wind its way through/along somewhere: if a road, river etc winds somewhere, it has many smooth bends and is usually very long
>> (b) to wend its/one's way through/along somewhere: to move or travel slowly from one place to another

> First I'd like to remark that one can be a brilliant speaker and
> writer without ever using the word "wend" in one's life.

It is not archaic, but it must be a close fought thing.

--
"It's unacceptable to think" - George W Bush 15/Sep/2006

[Richard Tobin]

In article <ae820644-c073-4ee7...@googlegroups.com>,

Madrigal Gurneyhalt <purpl...@googlemail.com> wrote:

>> For me, wend can be either for long distance or for leisurely pace.

>It's really neither. 'Wend' simply means 'go/travel'

That's what it meant hundreds of years ago. It's not what it means now.

-- Richard

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Close fought is about right. I think it's very rarely used except in
stock sentences like "it's time to wend my weary way home". In such
cases there is no implication that the road is a winding road.


--
athel

[Richard Tobin]

In article <ff57b3...@mid.individual.net>,

Athel Cornish-Bowden <athe...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

>>>> (a) to wind its way through/along somewhere: if a road, river etc winds
>>>> somewhere, it has many smooth bends and is usually very long
>>>> (b) to wend its/one's way through/along somewhere: to move or travel
>>>> slowly from one place to another

>>> First I'd like to remark that one can be a brilliant speaker and
>>> writer without ever using the word "wend" in one's life.

>> It is not archaic, but it must be a close fought thing.

>Close fought is about right. I think it's very rarely used except in
>stock sentences like "it's time to wend my weary way home". In such
>cases there is no implication that the road is a winding road.

The main distinguishing feature of "wend" is that it is almost always
followed by a possessive and then "way". Over 90% of sequences
starting with "wend" in the Google 5-gram database are of this form.

Surprisingly, none of them have "weary", which suggests that the
database's threshold of 40 occurrences is losing a lot.

Here is the data, after removing obvious non-English entries (in
particular, "wend" seems to be a keyword in Visual Basic).

wend , But to procrastinate 78
wend , With league whose 73
wend , they never stop 45
wend down like a cold 57
wend from one topic to 146
wend from the world at 64
wend her way through the 77
wend his way back to 48
wend his way through the 150
wend his way to the 65
wend it 's way through 60
wend it 's way with 52
wend its way across the 56
wend its way around the 44
wend its way from the 225
wend its way hither and 58
wend its way into Sun 112
wend its way into not 80
wend its way into the 128
wend its way through a 58
wend its way through the 663
wend its way to the 216
wend my path to grave 55
wend my way back to 43
wend my way through the 147
wend my way to the 78
wend one 's way , 54
wend our way around the 68
wend our way back to 113
wend our way home . 48
wend our way out of 42
wend our way through the 337
wend our way to the 124
wend their way across sixteenth 52
wend their way across the 103
wend their way along the 129
wend their way among the 41
wend their way around the 104
wend their way back to 181
wend their way down the 86
wend their way from the 74
wend their way into the 208
wend their way like sheep 40
wend their way through a 222
wend their way through colorful 69
wend their way through standards 77
wend their way through the 2067
wend their way through this 44
wend their way to the 408
wend their way toward the 53
wend their way up the 126
wend their ways into three 58
wend thitherward , ye shall 53
wend thou knewest me better 50
wend through a chain of 44
wend thy ways . " 63
wend to the shores I 53
wend you we might do 48
wend your way along the 49
wend your way back to 84
wend your way between the 50
wend your way in war 73
wend your way through a 95
wend your way through the 424
wend your way to our 41
wend your way to the 113

-- Richard

[Ken Blake]

On Tue, 20 Feb 2018 18:38:22 -0800 (PST), Jerry Friedman
<jerry_f...@yahoo.com> wrote:


>First I'd like to remark that one can be a brilliant speaker and
>writer without ever using the word "wend" in one's life.

I've never used the word. I hope that makes me a brilliant speaker and
writer.

[Garrett Wollman]

In article <f68cf9bd-2840-49b1...@googlegroups.com>,

Jerry Friedman <jerry_f...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>First I'd like to remark that one can be a brilliant speaker and
>writer without ever using the word "wend" in one's life.

Assuming you don't count its historic preterite form "went", which is
now by suppletion attached to the verb "go".

-GAWollman

--
Garrett A. Wollman | "Act to avoid constraining the future; if you can,
wol...@bimajority.org| act to remove constraint from the future. This is
Opinions not shared by| a thing you can do, are able to do, to do together."
my employers. | - Graydon Saunders, _A Succession of Bad Days_ (2015)

[Jerry Friedman]

On Wednesday, February 21, 2018 at 9:40:16 AM UTC-7, Garrett Wollman wrote:
> In article <f68cf9bd-2840-49b1...@googlegroups.com>,
> Jerry Friedman <jerry_f...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >First I'd like to remark that one can be a brilliant speaker and
> >writer without ever using the word "wend" in one's life.
>
> Assuming you don't count its historic preterite form "went", which is
> now by suppletion attached to the verb "go".

That assumption is correct.

--
Jerry Friedman

[Snidely]

Richard Tobin wrote on 2/21/2018 :
> In article <ae820644-c073-4ee7...@googlegroups.com>,
> Madrigal Gurneyhalt <purpl...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
>>> For me, wend can be either for long distance or for leisurely pace.
>
>> It's really neither. 'Wend' simply means 'go/travel'

If I want to say "go" or "travel", I will say "go" or "travel".
"Wend", for me, is reserved for special uses.

> That's what it meant hundreds of years ago. It's not what it means now.

+1

/dps

--
Rule #0: Don't be on fire.
In case of fire, exit the building before tweeting about it.
(Sighting reported by Adam F)