English
beer
Beer comes from Middle English ber, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *beuzą.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*beuząreconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*beuʀreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150bēor
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ber
- Englishearliest quotation 1870beer
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*beuząreconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*beuʀreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150bēor
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ber
- Englishearliest quotation 1870beer
Earliest quotation: 1870, Sidney Daryl, His First Brief. A Comedietta in Clement Scott: “No doubt he then can feed us, wine us,…”
The story
From Middle English ber, bere, from Old English bēor (‘beer’) (Oxford OED notes: "rare, except in poetry"), from Proto-West Germanic *beuʀ, from Proto-Germanic *beuzą (‘beer’) (putatively from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewsóm), meaning “brewer's yeast”. However, also see the "beer" entry on EtymOnline (q.v.), which links a connection to monastic Vulgar Latin *biber (‘a drink, beverage’), from Latin bibere (‘to drink’). Samuel Johnson in his famous 18th-century A Dictionary of the English Language guessed it was from (unattested) Welsh *bîr; he distinguished it in his time from ale — the ancient usual word — by beer being older-aged and/or smaller.
Every English word from Proto-Germanic *beuzą
Another origin of beer
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500beere
- Englishtodaybeer
Today it means
noun An alcoholic drink fermented from starch material, commonly barley malt; often with hops or some other substance (like gruit) to impart a bitter flavor.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *beuzą / beer