English
ambergris
Ambergris comes from Old French ambre gris ‘grey amber’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- ‘to grow (of plants?)’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰreh₁-‘to grow (of plants?)’root as named · steps between not traced
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400ambre gris‘grey amber’
- Englishearliest quotation 1607ambergris
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰreh₁-‘to grow (of plants?)’root as named · steps between not traced
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400ambre gris‘grey amber’
- Englishearliest quotation 1607ambergris
Earliest quotation: 1607, attributed to Thomas Tomkis, Lingva: Or The Combat of the Tongue: “Your onely way to make a good pomander, is…”
The story
Though the term was initially spaced as two words, single-word forms predominated by the 19th century. In the 17th century, folk etymologies interpreting the term as amber grease or amber [of] Greece enjoyed some popularity.folk etymology The source marks this as unproven or a folk etymology. Quoted, not asserted.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- ‘to grow (of plants?)’
green, grow, grass, herb, arbor, groom, gourmet, graze, greedily, yerba, 18 more
Today it means
noun A solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull gray to blackish color, formed within the intestines of the sperm whale and used in the production of perfumes.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- / ambergris