Etymograph

English

earn

Earn comes from Old English earnian, from Proto-Germanic *azanōną ‘to harvest’, from *azaniz ‘harvest’, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁os-on-i-s.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁os-on-i-s‘harvest’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*azaniz‘harvest, summer’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*azanōną‘to harvest’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*aʀanōn‘to harvest’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150earnian‘to deserve’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ernen‘to earn’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1910earn

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁os-on-i-s‘harvest’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*azaniz‘harvest, summer’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*azanōną‘to harvest’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*aʀanōn‘to harvest’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150earnian‘to deserve’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ernen‘to earn’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1910earn

Earliest quotation: 1910, Emerson Hough, Indianapolis: “Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging…”

The story

This verb is denominal from the noun *azaniz (‘harvest’).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- ‘to sow’

since, side, season, seed, seminar, semen, sow, serene, seminal, sower, 16 more

through Middle English ernen ‘to earn’

ern

Today it means

verb To gain (success, reward, recognition) through applied effort or work.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₁os-on-i-s / earn

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