welkin
UK /ˈwɛlkɪn/ · US /ˈwɛlkən/ noun
Forms welkins
- noun (also Lancashire) The sky which appears to an observer on the Earth as a dome in which celestial bodies are visible; the firmament.
- noun The upper atmosphere occupied by clouds, flying birds, etc.
- noun (religion) The place above the Earth where God or other deities live; heaven.
Synonyms
ether heavens lift celestial sphere sphere empyrean firmament vault of heaven
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English welkne (“weather; heavens; (earlier) cloud”), from Old English wolcnu (“sky, heavens”), plural form of wolcn (“cloud”), from Proto-West Germanic *wolkn (“cloud”), from Proto-Germanic *wulkną (“cloud”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥ɡ-no-m, from *welg- (“damp; wet”). Cognate with Dutch wolk (“cloud”), German Wolke (“cloud”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The visible regions of the air; the vault of heaven; the sky. On the welkne shoon the sterres lyght. Chaucer.
Etymology [OE. welken, welkene, welkne, wolcne, weolcne, AS. wolcen, pl. wolcnu, a cloud; akin to D. wolk, OFries. wolken, OS. wolkan, G. wolke, OHG. wolchan, and probably to G. welk withered, OHG. welc moist, Russ. & OSlav. vlaga moisture, Lith. vilgyti to moisten.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “welkin”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details