Origin and history of wey

Middle English weien, from Old English wegan (class V strong verb, past tense wæg, past participle wægon) "find the weight of, measure;" also intransitive, "have weight;" also "lift, carry, support, sustain, bear; move," from Proto-Germanic *wegan (source also of Old Saxon wegan, Old Frisian wega, Dutch wegen "to weigh;" Old Norse vega, Old High German wegan "to move, carry, weigh;" German wiegen "to weigh," bewegen "to move, stir"), from PIE root *wegh- "to go, move, transport in a vehicle."

The prehistoric sense evolution would be from "move" to "lift, raise" to "bear up to determine the weight of." Compare Latin pendere "to weigh; consider," literally "to hang, cause to hang." The sense of "lift, carry" survives in the nautical phrase weigh anchor.

The figurative sense of "consider, ponder, examine" for the purpose of forming an opinion (in reference to words, etc.) is recorded from mid-14c.

To weigh down "overload with too much weight" is by mid-14c., originally figurative (of sin, etc.); physical sense is by 1560s.

To weigh in in the sense of "ascertain one's weight before an athletic contest" is by 1868, originally of jockeys, later prize-fighters; the figurative meaning "bring one's influence to bear, enter forcefully into a discussion" is from 1909.

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to go, move, transport in a vehicle."

The root wegh-, "to convey, especially by wheeled vehicle," is found in virtually every branch of Indo-European, including now Anatolian. The root, as well as other widely represented roots such as aks- and nobh-, attests to the presence of the wheel — and vehicles using it — at the time Proto-Indo-European was spoken. [Watkins, p. 96]

It might form all or part of: always; away; convection; convey; convex; convoy; deviate; devious; envoy; evection; earwig; foy; graywacke; impervious; invective; inveigh; invoice; Norway; obviate; obvious; ochlocracy; ogee; pervious; previous; provection; quadrivium; thalweg; trivia; trivial; trivium; vector; vehemence; vehement; vehicle; vex; via; viaduct; viatic; viaticum; vogue; voyage; wacke; wag; waggish; wagon; wain; wall-eyed; wave (n.); way; wee; weigh; weight; wey; wiggle.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit vahati "carries, conveys," vahitram, vahanam "vessel, ship;" Avestan vazaiti "he leads, draws;" Greek okhos "carriage, chariot;" Latin vehere "to carry, convey," vehiculum "carriage, chariot;" Old Church Slavonic vesti "to carry, convey," vozŭ "carriage, chariot;" Russian povozka "small sled;" Lithuanian vežu, vežti "to carry, convey," važis "a small sled;" Old Irish fecht "campaign, journey," fen "carriage, cart;" Welsh gwain "carriage, cart;" Old English wegan "to carry;" Old Norse vegr, Old High German weg "way;" Middle Dutch wagen "wagon."