Etymograph

English

fallow

Fallow comes from Old English fealh ‘fallow land’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *polḱéh₂.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*polḱéh₂‘arable land’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*falgureconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150fealh‘fallow land’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500falwe
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1645fallow

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*polḱéh₂‘arable land’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*falgureconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150fealh‘fallow land’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500falwe
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1645fallow

Earliest quotation: 1645, John Milton: “Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures Whilst the…”

The story

[Alt: A photograph of a ploughed field.]

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *polḱéh₂

Another origin of fallow

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*polḱ-éh₂‘arable land’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*falgōuncertain
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*falgureconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanic, derivedc. 200–500 CE*falgōn‘to fallow’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150fealgian‘to fallow’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500falowen
  7. Englishtodayfallow

Another origin of fallow

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pelH-‘pale, gray’root as named
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*polwosreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*falwaz‘pale, gray, fallow’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*falureconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150fealu‘yellow, dusky, grey’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500falwe
  7. Englishtodayfallow

Today it means

noun Ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *polḱéh₂ / fallow

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