Etymograph

English

fern

Fern comes from Proto-Indo-European *pornóm ‘feather, wing’, and goes back to *p(t)erH-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*p(t)erH-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*pornóm‘feather, wing’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*farnazreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*farnreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150fearn
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fern
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1869same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*p(t)erH-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*pornóm‘feather, wing’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*farnazreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*farnreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150fearn
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fern
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1869same form

Earliest quotation: 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago: “Beyond here the tides are not felt, and we…”

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *p(t)erH-

Today it means

noun Any of a group of some twenty thousand species of vascular plants classified in the division Pteridophyta that lack seeds and reproduce by shedding spores to initiate an alternation of generations.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *p(t)erH- / fern

Shirt and support for this word