From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Wit \Wit\ (w[i^]t), v. t. & i. [inf. (To) {Wit}; pres. sing.
{Wot}; pl. {Wite}; imp. {Wist(e)}; p. p. {Wist}; p. pr. & vb.
n. {Wit(t)ing}. See the Note below.] [OE. witen, pres. ich
wot, wat, I know (wot), imp. wiste, AS. witan, pres. w[=a]t,
imp. wiste, wisse; akin to OFries. wita, OS. witan, D. weten,
G. wissen, OHG. wizzan, Icel. vita, Sw. veta, Dan. vide,
Goth. witan to observe, wait I know, Russ. vidiete to see, L.
videre, Gr. ?, Skr. vid to know, learn; cf. Skr. vid to find.
????. Cf. {History}, {Idea}, {Idol}, {-oid}, {Twit}, {Veda},
{Vision}, {Wise}, a. & n., {Wot}.]
To know; to learn. "I wot and wist alway." --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
[1913 Webster]
Note: The present tense was inflected as follows; sing. 1st
pers. wot; 2d pers. wost, or wot(t)est; 3d pers. wot,
or wot(t)eth; pl. witen, or wite. The following variant
forms also occur; pres. sing. 1st & 3d pers. wat, woot;
pres. pl. wyten, or wyte, weete, wote, wot; imp. wuste
(Southern dialect); p. pr. wotting. Later, other
variant or corrupt forms are found, as, in Shakespeare,
3d pers. sing. pres. wots.
[1913 Webster]
Brethren, we do you to wit [make you to know] of
the grace of God bestowed on the churches of
Macedonia. --2 Cor. viii.
1.
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Thou wost full little what thou meanest.
--Chaucer.
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We witen not what thing we prayen here.
--Chaucer.
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When that the sooth in wist. --Chaucer.
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Note: This verb is now used only in the infinitive, to wit,
which is employed, especially in legal language, to
call attention to a particular thing, or to a more
particular specification of what has preceded, and is
equivalent to namely, that is to say.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
witting
adj 1: aware or knowing; "a witting tool of the Communists"
[ant: {unwitting}]
2: intentionally conceived; "a conscious effort to speak more
slowly"; "a conscious policy" [syn: {conscious}, {witting}]
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