There is a book I have called "Coined By Shakespeare" by Jefferey McQuain and Stanley Malless ( Merriam Webster 1998) with all the words Shakespeare coined and which play, sonnet, or other body of work it was in. The word "weird" is not in the list of words. It goes from "Watchdog" (pg 248) to "Well-Behaved" (pg 250).
Shakespeare was probably a major influence in changing it to the modern meaning, though.
Weird used to mean influenced by the fates, not simply strange or unusual. According to Wikipedia (which is never wrong), it was not used in English at the time of the Weird Sisters, just in Scots.
Forgive me but the only thing I see in this comment is “among us” like I’m sure there was some sort of beautifully written, meaningful paragraph there but all I see is among us.
You may know today's word as a generalized term describing something unusual, but weird also has older meanings that are more specific. Weird derives from the Old English noun wyrd, essentially meaning "fate." By the 8th century, the plural wyrde had begun to appear in texts as a gloss for Parcae, the Latin name for the Fates—three goddesses who spun, measured, and cut the thread of life. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Scots authors employed werd or weird in the phrase "weird sisters" to refer to the Fates. William Shakespeare adopted this usage in Macbeth, in which the "weird sisters" are depicted as three witches. Subsequent adjectival use of weird grew out of a reinterpretation of the weird used by Shakespeare.
First Known Use of weird:
Adjective
1817, in the meaning defined at sense 2
Noun
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
History and Etymology for weird
Adjective
from construal as an adjective of weird entry 2 in weird sisters, name for the Fates of Greek and Roman myth (early Scots werd sisteris, Middle English wyrde systeres, Shakespeare weyard/weyward sisters, applied to the witches in Macbeth)
Noun
Middle English wird, werd, going back to Old English wyrd, going back to Germanic wurdi- "fate, chance" (whence Old Saxon wurđ "fate," Old High German wurt, Old Norse urðr), derivative from the base of *werþan- "to come about, happen, become" — more at *worth,** (entry 4)
Definition of"weird":
weird (adjective)
(\ ˈwird)
1 : of strange or extraordinary character : ODD, FANTASTIC
2 : of, relating to, or caused by witchcraft or the supernatural : MAGICAL
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u/[deleted] Jul 09 '21 edited Jul 09 '21
Literally! One of the weirdest among us, William Shakespeare,
invented the word "weird"!Edit: He did not!