Etymograph

English

craft

Craft comes from Middle English craft ‘strength, skill’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *krafjaną ‘to demand’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*krafjaną‘to demand’reconstructedearlier origin unknown
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kraftuz‘strength, power’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kraftu‘strength, power’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cræft‘strength, skill’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500craft‘strength, skill’
  6. Englishearliest quotation a. 1325same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*krafjaną‘to demand’reconstructedearlier origin unknown
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kraftuz‘strength, power’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kraftu‘strength, power’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cræft‘strength, skill’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500craft‘strength, skill’
  6. Englishearliest quotation a. 1325same form

Earliest quotation: a. 1325, Cursor Mundi: “[…] Þe seuen craftes all he can […]”

The story

Inherited from Middle English craft (‘strength, skill’), from Old English cræft (‘strength, skill’), from Proto-West Germanic *kraftu, from Proto-Germanic *kraftuz (‘strength, power’); further origin obscure.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *krafjaną ‘to demand’

crave, 3 more

through Proto-Germanic *kraftuz ‘strength, power’

kraft, 2 more

Today it means

noun Strength; power; might; force .

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *krafjaną / craft

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