English
fiendship
Fiendship comes from Old English fēondsċiepe ‘hostility, enmity’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *fijandskapi.
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fijandskapireconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150fēondsċiepe‘hostility, enmity’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500feondscipe
- Englishearliest quotation 1849fiendship
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fijandskapireconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150fēondsċiepe‘hostility, enmity’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500feondscipe
- Englishearliest quotation 1849fiendship
Earliest quotation: 1849, Sidney Smith, The Mother Country: “Nay, perhaps, mankind being possessed of a given quantity…”
Formed from fiend + -ship
Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- ‘to hate’
Proto-Germanic *fijandz ‘enemy, fiend’
Proto-West Germanic *fijand
Old English fēond ‘enemy’
Middle English fend ‘enemy’
English fiend
Every English word from Proto-West Germanic *fijandskapi
Today it means
noun The state, quality, or condition of being a fiend.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *fijandskapi / fiendship