Because I was very excited to find a very promising (though lacking 'fossicking' for one thing) online English etymology dictionary today but had no one to crow about it to, I have decided to share a word origin with you, for a quite topical pair of morphemes, given tonight's group activities.
Welcome:
From the Old English (as written and spoken c.450-c.1100) wilcuma, exclamation of kindly greeting, from earlier wilcuma (noun) "welcome guest," literally "one whose coming is in accord with another's will," from willa "pleasure, desire, choice" and cuma "guest."
The verb in Old English is wilcumian.
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