Etymograph

English

bath

Bath comes from Middle English bath ‘a medicinal or curative bath’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- ‘to warm’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₁-‘to warm’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*baþąreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*baþreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150bæþ
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bath‘a medicinal or curative bath’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1815same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₁-‘to warm’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*baþąreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*baþreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150bæþ
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bath‘a medicinal or curative bath’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1815same form

Earliest quotation: 1815, anonymous author, The Observant Pedestrian Mounted: “Oh, dear no, not me; I never bath, ’tis…”

The story

Corresponding inherited verbs are beath and bathe.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- ‘to warm’

bed, 4 more

Another origin of bath

  1. Hebrew1880s–presentבַּתbaṯ
  2. Englishtodaybath

Today it means

noun A tub or pool which is used for bathing: bathtub.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₁- / bath

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