Etymograph

English

Protestant

Protestant may come from German Protestant ‘Protestant (person)’.

  1. Germanc. 1650–presentProtestant‘Protestant (person)’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1827same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Germanc. 1650–presentProtestant‘Protestant (person)’uncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1827same form

Earliest quotation: 1827, 1796 Theobald Wolfe Tone, Memoirs Vol.1 p.64 (Henry Colburn: “To unite the whole people of Ireland; to abolish…”

Formed from protest + -ant

Latin testis ‘witness’

Latin testor ‘to testify’

Latin prōtestor ‘to declare publicly’

Old French protester

Middle English protesten

English protest

Every English word from German Protestant

Today it means

noun A member of any of several Christian denominations which separated from the Roman Catholic Church based on theological or political differences during the Reformation (or in some cases later).

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

Etymograph / German Protestant / Protestant

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