welkin
[wel-kin]
-noun Chiefly Literary
the sky; the vault of heaven.
Origin
before 900; Middle English welken ( e ), Old English welcn, variant of wolcen cloud, sky; cognate with German Wolke cloud
“When heaven doth weep, doth not the earth o’erflow?
If the winds rage, doth not the sea wax mad,
Threatening the welkin with his big-swollen face?”
~ William Shakespeare ~
British dramatist, poet
Titus in Titus Andronicus
Stephanie Meissner 