Etymograph

English

cover

Cover comes from Middle English coveren, from Old French covrir, from Latin cooperiō ‘to cover completely’ (co- + operiō).

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*opweriōreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoperiō‘to close, cover’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcooperiō‘to cover completely’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcooperiō‘to cover’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400covrir
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500coveren‘to cover’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1712cover

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*opweriōreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoperiō‘to close, cover’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcooperiō‘to cover completely’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcooperiō‘to cover’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400covrir
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500coveren‘to cover’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1712cover

Earliest quotation: 1712, Joseph Addison, Cato: “Pent up in Utica he vainly forms A poor…”

The story

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the original sense of the verb and noun cover was “hide from view” as in its cognate covert. Except in the limited sense of “cover again”, the word recover is unrelated and is cognate with recuperate.

Linked words

through Latin operiō ‘to close, cover’

operculum, 7 more

Today it means

noun A lid.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *opweriō / cover

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