English
cumber
Cumber comes from Old French encombrer ‘to bother’.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400encombrer‘to bother’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500combren
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1705cumber
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400encombrer‘to bother’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500combren
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1705cumber
Earliest quotation: a. 1705, John Locke, Of the Conduct of the Understanding: “The multiplying variety of arguments, especially frivolous ones, […]…”
A compound of *kom- ‘with, together’ + *bereti ‘to bear’
Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm ‘beside, near, by, with’
Proto-Celtic *kom- ‘with, together’
Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to bear, carry’
Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti ‘to be carrying’
Proto-Celtic *bereti ‘to bear’
Linked words
through Latin cumulus ‘heap, pile’
through Old French encombrer ‘to bother’
Another origin of cumber
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500komber
- Englishtodaycumber
Today it means
verb To slow down; to hinder; to burden; to encumber.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French encombrer / cumber