English
ant
Ant comes from Middle English ampte ‘an ant’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *āmaitijā.
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*āmaitijādisputed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ǣmete
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ampte‘an ant’
- Englishearliest quotation 1974ant
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*āmaitijādisputed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ǣmete
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ampte‘an ant’
- Englishearliest quotation 1974ant
Earliest quotation: 1974, Eloise Potter and Doris Hauser, Relationship of anting and sunbathing to molting in wild bir: “Wild birds tend to ant and sunbathe most frequently…”
A compound of *ē- ‘off, away’ + *maitaną ‘to cut’
Proto-Indo-European *mey- ‘small’
Proto-Germanic *maitaną ‘to cut’
The story
From Middle English ampte, amte, amete, amote, ante, emete, emot, emotte, empt, empte, from Old English ǣmete, ǣmette, ǣmytte, ǣmætte (‘ant’), from Proto-West Germanic *āmaitijā (‘ant’), of uncertain and debated origin (q.v.), but probably from Proto-Germanic *ē- (‘off, away’) + *maitaną (‘to cut’), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂y- (‘to cut’).disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it.
Linked words
through Middle English ampte ‘an ant’
Today it means
noun Any of various insects in the family Formicidae in the order Hymenoptera, typically living in large colonies composed almost entirely of flightless females.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.