Etymograph

English

embarras

Embarras comes from French embarras ‘embarrassment’, from Spanish embarazar ‘to impregnate, make pregnant’, and ultimately from Sumerian keš₂ ‘to bind’.

  1. Sumerianc. 3100–1800 BCEkeš₂transliteratedcuneiform keš₂, a transliteration‘to bind’
  2. Akkadianc. 2500–100 BCErakāsumtransliteratedcuneiform rakāsum, a transliteration
  3. Akkadian, derivedc. 2500–100 BCEmarkasutransliteratedcuneiform markasu, a transliteration
  4. Classical Syriacmodernܡܰܪܫܳܐmaršā
  5. Arabicc. 500–presentمَرَسَة‘rope’
  6. Old Galician-Portuguesec. 1100–1500embaraçarliterally ‘to tangle, to snarl’
  7. Old Spanishc. 950–1500same form
  8. Spanishc. 1500–presentembarazar‘to impregnate, make pregnant’
  9. Frenchc. 1600–presentembarrasser‘embarrass’
  10. French, derivedc. 1600–presentembarras‘embarrassment’
  11. Englishearliest quotation 1751same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Sumerianc. 3100–1800 BCEkeš₂transliteratedcuneiform keš₂, a transliteration‘to bind’
  2. Akkadianc. 2500–100 BCErakāsumtransliteratedcuneiform rakāsum, a transliteration
  3. Akkadian, derivedc. 2500–100 BCEmarkasutransliteratedcuneiform markasu, a transliteration
  4. Classical Syriacmodernܡܰܪܫܳܐmaršā
  5. Arabicc. 500–presentمَرَسَة‘rope’
  6. Old Galician-Portuguesec. 1100–1500embaraçarliterally ‘to tangle, to snarl’
  7. Old Spanishc. 950–1500same form
  8. Spanishc. 1500–presentembarazar‘to impregnate, make pregnant’
  9. Frenchc. 1600–presentembarrasser‘embarrass’
  10. French, derivedc. 1600–presentembarras‘embarrassment’
  11. Englishearliest quotation 1751same form

Earliest quotation: 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […]: “[O]ne day in his way to the opera, his…”

Every English word from Sumerian keš₂

Today it means

noun Embarrassment; confusion, uncertainty.

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

Etymograph / Sumerian keš₂ / embarras

Shirt and support for this word