English
bauble
Bauble comes from Old French babel ‘trinket, child's toy’.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400babel‘trinket, child's toy’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bable
- Englishearliest quotation 1816bauble
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400babel‘trinket, child's toy’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bable
- Englishearliest quotation 1816bauble
Earliest quotation: 1816, – 1817 April/May, The Modern Prometheus. […]: “[…] as to the bauble on which the chief…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ‘to fit’
down, town, tool, teen, dynamic, dynasty, tow, dun, dynamo, dynastic, tine, benefice, taw, 91 more
through Proto-Italic *dwenos ‘good’
ben, bonus, beneficial, optimal, rebellion, bonnie, optimism, boon, beneficiary, rebellious, bene, bonny, rebelling, bonbon, 35 more
through Old Latin duenos
through Old Latin *duenelos
rebel, revel, bellicose, beaucoup, beauteous, 17 more
through Latin bellus ‘pretty’
Today it means
noun A cheap showy ornament or piece of jewellery; a gewgaw.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French babel / bauble