Is the past form of 'welcome' 'welcame'?

Question

Hi, allI had been believing that the past form of 'welcome' should be 'welcame' since I started to study English, and finally I found it was wrong.The past-form of 'welcome' is 'welcomed'.Hasn't the rule changed from beginning? Or was 'welcame' available before?I am interested in the regular verb which was irreglar before, like 'dream'.Could you please tell me how about a 'welcome'?Thanks in advanceNomura

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Hello Japan, and welcome (not welcame!) to English Forums.

I don't believe the verb passed through an irregular form, though we'll have to wait for an expert to conjugate the OE wilcumian for us:

O.E. wilcuma, exclamation of kindly greeting, from earlier wilcuma (n.) "welcome guest," lit. "one whose coming is in accord with another's will," from willa "pleasure, desire, choice" (see http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=will (v.)) + cuma "guest," related to cuman (see http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=come). Cf. O.H.G. willicomo, M.Du. wellecome. Meaning "entertainment or public reception as a greeting" is recorded from 1530. You're welcome as a formulaic response to thank you is attested from 1907. Welcome mat first recorded 1951; welcome wagon is attested from 1961. The verb is O.E. wilcumian.

Japan · Answer

Thank you for your reply. I want to enjoy joining this forums.

By the way, I posted my handle name as 'Japan' by mistake. So sorry. Anyway I think I can go with it because nobody else will want to post such a name, don't you think so?

Xsi · Answer

quote from dictionary.com

tr.v. wel·comed, wel·com·ing, wel·comes

To greet, receive, or entertain (another or others) cordially or hospitably.
To receive or accept gladly: would welcome a little privacy.

Believe it or not, welcome can be used as a verb. I did not know that.

So baiscally the past tense and past participal for welcome are welcomed.

EDIT: Heh Japan isn't a bad name. Look at my name. Now, what the heck is a xsi, hmm?

Japan · Answer

Hi, xsi.

I can't guess nor imagine the meaning of your name, actually, even how to pronounce it.

It seems mysterious.

Paco2004 · Answer

Hello Japan

I'm interested in the topic you raised.

I am now living in Tokyo and on my way to work I can see an English-like phrase on the signboard of a jewelry store, that reads 'Well come!'. You may feel it's funny, but I don't think that use of 'well come' is not so rare in Japan. Actually one among a hundred of Japanese believe 'welcome' is 'well come'. Check on Google selecting 'jp' as the URL domain, then you will get 1,350,000 hits for 'welcome' and 13,500 hits for 'well come'. It is likely Korean people also like 'well come'. In the domain of 'kr', 'well come' is used in 22,000 pages whereas 'welcome' is in 840,000 pages. I think these guys who are using 'well come' for 'welcome' must have learned French along with English, because the French equivalent to 'welcome' is exactly 'well come' (=bien venu).

'Welcome' is used in four ways. First you can use it as an interjection to greet cordially a visitor; 'Welcome to Tokyo!' Secondly it is used as a noun to mean 'reception'; 'We received a hearty welcome'. Thirdly, it is used as an adjective; 'You are welcome to join us'. And finally it is used as a verb; 'They welcomed me warmheartedly'. The verb 'welcome' is a regular in the tense inflexion: welcome - welcomed - welcomed. As you pointed out, it is a bit messy because 'come' and 'become' inflects irregularly like come/become - came/became - come/become.

I guess what you wanted to know is why the verb 'welcome' inflects regularly unlike 'come' or 'become'. The answer is: it is because 'welcome' is not a verb made by compounding 'well' and 'come' but a derivative of the noun 'welcome'. As Mr Micawber told us, the noun 'welcome' was originally 'wilcuma', which means 'pleasure/acceptable guest' in Old English. Its verbal derivative form 'wilcumian' was also used in Old English. But its tense/person inflection was distinctively different from 'cuman' (=come). In Old English, verbs in the form '---ian' were treated as weak or regular verbs and its past form was '--ede' (1st, 3rd singular), '--edest' (2nd singular), and '--don' (plural). So the past form of 'wilcumian' was 'wilcumede'/'wilcumedest'/'wilcumedon'. On the other hand, 'cuman' was a strong verb and the past form (Northern dialect form) was 'cam'/'camst'/'camen'. So, people seem to have been well aware of the difference in the inflexion between 'welcome' and 'come', and therefore I guess a word like 'welcame' has never been used throughout the history.
paco

Anonymous · Answer

Hi everybody

Another question about this word.

"Thank you very much"

It's a common reply: You are welcome.

Here, I guess it's like passive form, so grammatically it's alright to re-reply (just for fun):
it's good to be welcome.

What do you think?

Adam (Hungary)

Anonymous · Answer

A lot of Korean think 'welcome' is from 'well' 'come' becouse it's sounded similar.
And they often say "it's very good that you come here" for "welcome".
This sentence is said as "jal-what-da? ??." in Korean. And it sounds like "(you) came well"
That's why they're cofused between 'welcome' and 'well come'

Toms Mathew · Answer

past of "Welcome" is "Welcome-welcomed-welcomed".

Regards...

Is the past form of 'welcome' 'welcame'?

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