Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Welkin

Welkin , noun

[Old English welken, welkene, welkne, wolcne, weolcne, Anglo-Saxon wolcen, pl. wolcnu, a cloud; akin to Dutch wolk, OFries. wolken, Old Saxon wolkan, German wolke, Old High German wolchan, and probably to German welk withered, Old High German welc moist, Russ. & OSlav. vlaga moisture, Lithuanian vilgyti to moisten.]

The visible regions of the air; the vault of heaven; the sky.
On the welkne shoon the sterres lyght. — Chaucer
The fair welkin foully overcast. — Spenser
When storms the welkin rend. — Wordsworth

Used adjectively by Shakespeare in the phase, “Your welkin eye,” with uncertain meaning.