Etymograph

English

big

Big comes from Northern Middle English big ‘powerful, strong’.

  1. Northern Middle Englishmodernbig‘powerful’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1712same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Northern Middle Englishmodernbig‘powerful’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1712same form

Earliest quotation: 1712, Joseph Addison, Cato: “The Dawn is over-caſt, the Morning low’rs, And heavily…”

The story

Inherited from Northern Middle English big, bigge (‘powerful, strong’), possibly from a dialect of Old Norse. Ultimately perhaps a derivative of Proto-Germanic *bugja- (‘swollen up, thick’), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (‘to swell’), in which case big would be related to bogey, bugbear, and bug.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-

beat, bold, beam, beetle, paddock, footer, beal, bile, poutine, 6 more

through Proto-Germanic *bugja- ‘swollen up, thick’

bug, 1 more

Today it means

adj Of great size, large.

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

Etymograph / Northern Middle English big / big

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