Etymograph

English

fen

Fen comes from Middle English fen ‘fen, bog, swamp’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pen-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pen-‘bog, mire’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fanją‘fen, marsh, swamp’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fanireconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fenn
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fen‘fen, bog, swamp’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pen-‘bog, mire’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fanją‘fen, marsh, swamp’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fanireconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fenn
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fen‘fen, bog, swamp’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611same form

Earliest quotation: 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest: “Caliban: As wicked dewe, as ere my mother bruſh'd…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pen- ‘bog, mire’

penetrate, impenetrable, 2 more

Another origin of fen

  1. Chinesemodern分fēn
  2. Englishtodayfen

Today it means

noun A type of wetland fed by ground water and runoff, containing peat below the waterline, characteristically alkaline.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pen- / fen

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