Etymograph

English

bode

Bode comes from Old English bodian ‘to announce, proclaim, tell’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- ‘to be awake’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰewdʰ-‘to be awake’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*budōną‘to announce, proclaim’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bodōn‘to announce, proclaim’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150bodian‘to announce, proclaim, tell’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500boden
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602bode

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰewdʰ-‘to be awake’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*budōną‘to announce, proclaim’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bodōn‘to announce, proclaim’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150bodian‘to announce, proclaim, tell’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500boden
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602bode

Earliest quotation: c. 1599–1602, William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet: “But in the thought and ſcope of my opinion,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- ‘to be awake’

body, bid, beadle, bede, verboten, 4 more

Another origin of bode

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bod‘act of bargaining or offering, or the subject of the bargain or offer’
  2. Englishtodaybode

The noun is derived from Middle English bod (‘act of bargaining or offering, or the subject of the bargain or offer; promise; proposal’), the same word stated in etymology 1. The verb is probably derived from the noun.

Another origin of bode

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰewdʰ-‘to be awake’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*beudaną‘to bid, offer’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*budô‘messenger’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bodōreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150boda‘herald, messenger’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bode‘emissary, messenger’
  7. Englishtodaysame form

Today it means

verb Of a thing: to be an indication, omen, or sign of (something); to portend.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰewdʰ- / bode

Shirt and support for this word