Etymograph

English

crimeware

Crimeware comes from Proto-Germanic *warō ‘a good, merchandise, ware’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*warō‘a good, merchandise, ware’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*warureconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150waru
  4. English1500–presentsoftware
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2007crimeware

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*warō‘a good, merchandise, ware’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*warureconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150waru
  4. English1500–presentsoftware
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2007crimeware

Earliest quotation: 2007, Harold F Tipton, Micki Krause: “Technical subterfuge schemes plant crimeware onto PCs to steal…”

A compound of crime + -ware

Latin crīmen ‘charge, crime’

Old French crime

Middle English cryme ‘crime’

English crime

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wer- ‘to heed, watch, guard, protect’

wear, guard, con, garage, regard, ward, worm, verge, optic, warn, weir, panorama, garrison, reverence, beware, vermin, revere, wry, vermilion, prosaic, diorama, guaranty, milliner, vermicelli, vermiculite, varmint, vermeil, 64 more

through English software

malware, firmware, freeware, shareware, 20 more

Today it means

noun Software that performs or facilitates illegal activities.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *warō / crimeware

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