Etymograph

English

ebb

Ebb comes from Middle English ebbe ‘ebb, low tide’, from Proto-Germanic *ab ‘off, away’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *apó.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*apóreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ab‘off, away’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*abjôreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*abbjāreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150ebba‘ebb, tide’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ebbe‘ebb, low tide’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1601ebb

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*apóreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ab‘off, away’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*abjôreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*abbjāreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150ebba‘ebb, tide’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ebbe‘ebb, low tide’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1601ebb

Earliest quotation: 1601, Caius Plinius Secundus [i.e., (please specify |book=I to XXXVII): “All the sea lying betweene, is verie ebbe, full…”

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *ab ‘off, away’

of, off

Another origin of ebb

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*apóreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ab‘off, away’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*abbjāreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanic, derivedc. 200–500 CE*abbjōn‘to ebb’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150ebbian‘to ebb, recede’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ebben‘to ebb’
  7. Englishtodayebb

Today it means

noun The receding movement of the tide.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *apó / ebb

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