English
cairn
Cairn comes from Old Irish carn, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- ‘horn’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱerh₂-‘horn’reconstructed
- Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*karnosreconstructed
- Old Irishc. 600–900carn
- Scottish Gaelicmoderncàrn
- Scotsc. 1450–presentcairn
- Englishearliest quotation 1826cairn
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱerh₂-‘horn’reconstructed
- Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*karnosreconstructed
- Old Irishc. 600–900carn
- Scottish Gaelicmoderncàrn
- Scotsc. 1450–presentcairn
- Englishearliest quotation 1826cairn
Earliest quotation: 1826, Thomas Campbell, Glenara: “Now here let us place the gray stone of…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- ‘horn’
cheer, hart, horn, cerebral, crater, grail, migraine, corny, procrastinate, cerebellum, cornea, carotid, cranium, keratin, cornet, cerebrum, rother, 52 more
Today it means
noun A rounded or conical heap of stones erected by early inhabitants of the British Isles, apparently as a sepulchral monument.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- / cairn