Dr. Metablog

I can't remember what I was dreaming, but I woke up in a state of pure etymological panic — over the revelation that I didn't know the derivation or meaning of the "welter" part of "welterweight."  How could this be?  Context was not the least help:  lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light-heavyweight, heavyweight.  Why not the more logical, more consistent "light-middleweight?"

What does "welter" mean?  I was barely awake, but I skimmed my mental resources.  German "welt" – world.  "Worldweight." Nonsense.  "Welt" as in a wound on the skin caused by a punch.  Possible, but, all boxers raise welts — that's what boxers do — not just welterweights.  A possible past tense of "weld."  No, that won't do. Boxers don't weld, or repair, anything. It was now time for a quick check of the mental Shakespeare concordance.  Whoops, a blank.  Mental Milton:  hold on, now, here's something:  the phrase "welter to the parching wind" in Lycidas.  But that particular "welter" means, I had always assumed "roll." In what sense would a welterweight "roll" more than any other size of boxer?  Another dead end.  OK, it's now time to get out of bed, fire up the computer, and check the on-line etymological dictionary. "Welterweight    1832, "heavyweight horseman," later "boxer or wrestler of a certain weight" (1896), from earlier welter "heavyweight horseman or boxer" (1804), possibly from welt (v.) "beat severely" (c.1400)." Now I'm starting to relax;  the panic is beginning to fade.  Nothing more calming than to discover that the internet doesn't have a better answer than I do.

But what the internet knows is intriguing. "Welterweight" used to mean "heavyweight" and then somehow devolved into something less than middleweight (147 pounds, to be exact, in American boxing)?  By what etymological process?  It all sounds arbitrary and inexplicable to me.  What is the root of "welter" in the sense of "heavy?"  To what words is it related.  And when and why did it come to be demoted?  Well, there are, as a well-known epistemologist liked to say, "known unknowns and unknown unknowns."  The history of "welter" is unknown to a power.

On the other hand, the word "welter" standing all by itself is very much known: "to roll or twist," c.1300, from M.Du. or M.L.G. welteren "to roll," from P.Gmc. *waltijanan (cf. O.E. wieltan, O.N. velta, O.H.G. walzan "to turn, revolve," Ger. wälzen "to roll," Goth. waltjan "to roll"), from PIE base *wel- "to turn, revolve")."

But hold on here.  The noun meaning "confused mass" is first recorded 1851.  That's the "welter" in, say, "his mind was a welter of confused etymological ideas."  Could the welterweight welter and the confused mass welter be related – in the sense that a "welterweight" is neither light nor heavy?  Well, it's a theory, but frankly, not a very good one. 

Besides, it's still the middle of the night, and it's time to return to bed.  The etymology of "welter" remains a mystery, but at least the symptoms of etymological stress have faded. Will sleep come  – or will I welter in a welter of confused thoughts?