English
crest
Crest comes from Old French creste.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400creste
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500creste
- Englishearliest quotation 1596crest
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400creste
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500creste
- Englishearliest quotation 1596crest
Earliest quotation: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book IV, Canto I: “Like as the shining skie in summers night, /…”
The story
The informal meaning “design, logo” (noun sense 11) stems from a misinterpretation of the heraldic noun sense 4, which specifically refers to the object placed on top of the helm.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to turn, bend’
short, card, across, cancer, share, cross, shirt, circle, score, circuit, screen, curve, crucial, circus, circulation, skirt, carnival, curb, scare, scar, cancellation, shrine, circa, scrutiny, corona, shear, scorpion, incarceration, carnage, raffle, circulate, carcinoma, corolla, scorn, shred, shard, carnal, cirque, riddance, circulatory, 119 more
Today it means
noun The summit of a hill or mountain ridge.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French creste / crest