English
boon
Boon comes from Old Norse bón ‘prayer, petition’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *bōniz ‘supplication’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bōniz‘supplication’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350bón‘prayer, petition’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500boon‘prayer’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590boon
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bōniz‘supplication’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350bón‘prayer, petition’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500boon‘prayer’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590boon
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto VII: “The wofull husbandman doth lowd complaine, / To ſee…”
The story
From Middle English boon (‘prayer’), from Old Norse bón (‘prayer, petition’), from Proto-Germanic *bōniz (‘supplication’), influenced by boon (“good, favorable”, adjective).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to shine, glow light’
focus, phone, professor, famous, fuel, phase, favor, favourite, ban, fantasy, fate, fancy, fame, photographer, emphasis, fatal, fairy, fabulous, infant, profession, phenomenon, phantom, abandon, beck, confession, confess, symphony, beacon, eff, fab, fay, bane, prophetic, epiphany, fable, foyer, banish, buoy, nefarious, profess, 126 more
through Proto-Germanic *bōniz ‘supplication’
Another origin of boon
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dewh₂-‘to fit’uncertain
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dwenos‘good’reconstructed
- Archaic Latinc. 700–75 BCEduenos
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEduonus
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbonus‘good’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400bon‘good’
- Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400boon
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500boon‘good’
- Englishtodayboon
Another origin of boon
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bone‘reed, stem, husk’
- Englishtodayboon
Today it means
noun A good thing; a thing to be thankful for or to appreciate duly.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *bōniz / boon