English
embower
Embower comes from Old English būr ‘private chamber, room’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *būraz ‘dweller, inhabitant’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*būraz‘dweller, inhabitant’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150būr‘private chamber, room’
- Englishearliest quotation 1667embower
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*būraz‘dweller, inhabitant’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150būr‘private chamber, room’
- Englishearliest quotation 1667embower
Earliest quotation: 1667, John Milton, Book IX: “Her hand he seis’d, and to a shadie bank,…”
Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to grow, be’
…
Proto-Germanic *būrą ‘room, abode’
Proto-West Germanic *būr
Old English būr ‘private chamber, room’
Middle English bour ‘a bedroom or chamber’
English bower
Linked words
through Proto-Germanic *būraz ‘dweller, inhabitant’
Today it means
verb To enclose something or someone as if in a bower; shelter with foliage.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *būraz / embower