Etymograph

English

esne

Esne comes from Old English esne ‘a man of the servile class’, from Proto-West Germanic *asnī ‘harvest worker, labourer’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *os(e)n-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*os(e)n-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*asniz‘reward’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*asnijaz‘day labourer, hireling’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*asnī‘harvest worker, labourer’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150esne‘a man of the servile class’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1818same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*os(e)n-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*asniz‘reward’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*asnijaz‘day labourer, hireling’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*asnī‘harvest worker, labourer’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150esne‘a man of the servile class’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1818same form

Earliest quotation: 1818, Samuel Heywood: “To an esne, therefore, I refer the entry in…”

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *os(e)n-

Today it means

noun A hireling of servile status; slave.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *os(e)n- / esne

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