Etymograph

English

Hun

Hun comes from Old English Hūnas, and goes back to Koine Greek Οὗννοι.

  1. Koine Greekc. 300 BCE–600 CEΟὗννοιHoûnnoi
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEHunni
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150Hūnas
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1919Hun

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Koine Greekc. 300 BCE–600 CEΟὗννοιHoûnnoi
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEHunni
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150Hūnas
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1919Hun

Earliest quotation: 1919, Gerald Featherstone Knight: “Doubtless the first German band to return to England…”

The story

As a derogatory term for Germans popularized by Rudyard Kipling, reacting to Germany's proposal that the Royal Navy be used to collect debts from Venezuela.

Every English word from Koine Greek Οὗννοι

Another origin of Hun

  1. Hokkienmodern份
  2. Khmermodernហ៊ុន‘capital, invested money, share, stock’
  3. EnglishtodayHun

Today it means

noun A member of a nomadic tribe (the Huns) who invaded Europe in the fourth century from Central Asia.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Koine Greek Οὗννοι / Hun

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