Etymograph

English

fever

Fever comes from Latin febris ‘a fever’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- ‘to burn’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰegʷʰ-‘to burn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰegʷʰ-ri-sreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*feɣʷrisreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfebris‘a fever’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150fefer
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fever
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰegʷʰ-‘to burn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰegʷʰ-ri-sreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*feɣʷrisreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfebris‘a fever’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150fefer
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fever
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602same form

Earliest quotation: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “an envious fever”.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- ‘to burn’

day, dear, dawn, darling, daw, foment, 20 more

through Latin febris ‘a fever’

febrile, 4 more

Today it means

noun A higher than normal body temperature of a person (or, generally, a mammal), usually caused by disease.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- / fever

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