English
cluster
Cluster comes from Middle English cluster ‘bunch, cluster, spray’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gel- ‘to be cold, to freeze’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gel-‘to be cold, to freeze’root as named
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*klas-reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150cluster‘cluster, bunch, branch’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘bunch, cluster, spray’
- Englishearliest quotation 1578same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gel-‘to be cold, to freeze’root as named
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*klas-reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150cluster‘cluster, bunch, branch’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘bunch, cluster, spray’
- Englishearliest quotation 1578same form
Earliest quotation: 1578, Rembert Dodoens, Of Brionie: “[T]he fruite cluſtereth togyther lyke to ſmal grapes, which…”
The story
The noun is derived from Middle English cluster (‘bunch, cluster, spray; compact body or mass, ball’) [and other forms], from Old English cluster, clyster (‘cluster, bunch, branch’), from Proto-Germanic *klas-, *klus- (‘to clump, lump together’) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (‘to ball up; to clench; to amass’)) + *-þrą (suffix forming nouns denoting an instrument or tool). The English word is probably a doublet of clot.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gel- ‘to be cold, to freeze’
children, child, cold, clean, globe, cloud, chill, gel, jelly, colt, gelatin, clout, clot, gelato, clough, glebe, ganglion, globulin, globus, clod, klutz, 48 more
Today it means
noun A bunch or group of several discrete items that are close to each other.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gel- / cluster