English
empty
Empty comes from Middle English emty ‘empty, vacant’, and goes back to Old English ǣmtiġ.
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ǣmtiġ‘vacant’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500emty‘empty’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588empty
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ǣmtiġ‘vacant’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500emty‘empty’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588empty
Earliest quotation: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “I hope our Ladies treaſure and our owne, May…”
A compound of *uz- ‘out’ + *mōtijô
Proto-Indo-European *úd ‘up, out’
Proto-Indo-European *ud-s- ‘up, out’
Proto-Germanic *uz- ‘out’
The story
The interconsonantal excrescent p is a euphonic insertion dating from Middle English.
Every English word from Old English ǣmtiġ
Today it means
adj Devoid of content; containing nothing or nobody; vacant.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old English ǣmtiġ / empty