entry
wasn't
/ˈwʌzənt/Contraction meaning “was not” in English
From O.English, from Proto-Germanic was (Past-tense form of “be”) + Modern English n't (Contracted form of the negative particle not).
Word Ancestry
English “to be” is a grammatical patchwork assembled from several ancient verbs, and was is the piece that originally meant “remain” or “dwell.” Its ancestor, Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-, is related to Sanskrit vasati, “he dwells,” and to Latin vestal—the Vestal Virgins were guardians of a sacred fire that had to keep abiding. In Old English, wæs belonged to wesan, a separate verb, but it gradually took over the past tense of am; English essentially recycled an old “remain” verb to say that someone existed in the past. The negative half is much less glamorous but wonderfully efficient: not shrank into the clitic -n't, producing wasn't. So when you say “She wasn't there,” you are combining an ancient idea of dwelling with a medieval-to-modern habit of squeezing negation onto the auxiliary—absence expressed by a verb whose deepest ancestor meant staying put.
The Story
English “to be” is a grammatical patchwork assembled from several ancient verbs, and was is the piece that originally meant “remain” or “dwell.” Its ancestor, Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-, is related to Sanskrit vasati, “he dwells,” and to Latin vestal—the Vestal Virgins were guardians of a sacred fire that had to keep abiding. In Old English, wæs belonged to wesan, a separate verb, but it gradually took over the past tense of am; English essentially recycled an old “remain” verb to say that someone existed in the past. The negative half is much less glamorous but wonderfully efficient: not shrank into the clitic -n't, producing wasn't. So when you say “She wasn't there,” you are combining an ancient idea of dwelling with a medieval-to-modern habit of squeezing negation onto the auxiliary—absence expressed by a verb whose deepest ancestor meant staying put.
Kin & Kindred
From 'was'·Past-tense form of “be”; originally connected with remaining or dwelling
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'n't'·Contracted form of the negative particle not
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Wikipedia