English
fauna
Fauna comes from New Latin Faunus ‘god of forests and herdsmen’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₂w-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₂w-root as named · steps between not traced
- New Latinc. 1500–1900Faunus‘god of forests and herdsmen’
- New Latin, derivedc. 1500–1900faunasister of Faunus
- Englishearliest quotation 1869same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₂w-root as named · steps between not traced
- New Latinc. 1500–1900Faunus‘god of forests and herdsmen’
- New Latin, derivedc. 1500–1900faunasister of Faunus
- Englishearliest quotation 1869same form
Earliest quotation: 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago: “More than this, at least twenty genera, which are…”
Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₂w-
Today it means
noun Animals considered as a group; especially those of a particular country, region, time, biological group, etc.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₂w- / fauna