Etymograph

English

chimney

Chimney comes from Middle English chymeneye ‘a chimney’, from Latin camīnus ‘furnace, forge’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em- ‘to bend, to curve’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂em-‘to bend, to curve’root as named
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκάμῑνοςkámīnos‘furnace’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcamīnus‘furnace, forge’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcamīnāta‘room with a chimney, living room, parlour’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400cheminee
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chymeneye‘a chimney’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1881–1882chimney

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂em-‘to bend, to curve’root as named
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκάμῑνοςkámīnos‘furnace’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcamīnus‘furnace, forge’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcamīnāta‘room with a chimney, living room, parlour’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400cheminee
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chymeneye‘a chimney’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1881–1882chimney

Earliest quotation: 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island: “Our chimney was a square hole in the roof:…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em- ‘to bend, to curve’

campaign, camera, campus, champion, chamber, kemp, cabaret, kam, camaraderie, champaign, gam, camber, jamb, cantonment, skimp, gamba, campanile, campagna, chambray, 20 more

Today it means

noun A vertical tube or hollow column used to emit environmentally polluting gaseous and solid matter (including but not limited to by-products of burning carbon- or hydrocarbon-based fuels); a flue.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kh₂em- / chimney

Shirt and support for this word