English
ent
Ent comes from Old English ent ‘giant’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *anti.
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*anti‘giant’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ent‘giant’
- Englishearliest quotation 2003ent
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*anti‘giant’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ent‘giant’
- Englishearliest quotation 2003ent
Earliest quotation: 2003, Walter Scheps, The Fairy-tale Morality of The Lord of the Rings: “[…]and that fine young ent Quickbeam is merely a…”
The story
Apparently survived in some German dialects as Enz (‘giant’), also in composite forms.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed- ‘to eat’
eating, anna, ana, fret, anodyne, esca, 20 more
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁édti ‘to eat’
obesity, edible, phage, 11 more
through Proto-Germanic *etaną ‘to eat’
Today it means
noun A large, fictional, humanoid, walking tree in works by J. R. R. Tolkien.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *anti / ent