Etymograph

English

flood

Flood comes from Middle English flod ‘a river’, from Old English flōd ‘flowing of the tide’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₃(w)- ‘to swim, flow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₃(w)-‘to swim, flow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*flōduz‘river’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*flōdu‘river’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150flōd‘flowing of the tide’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flod‘a river; a waterbody that moves in one direction’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1599flood

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₃(w)-‘to swim, flow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*flōduz‘river’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*flōdu‘river’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150flōd‘flowing of the tide’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flod‘a river; a waterbody that moves in one direction’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1599flood

Earliest quotation: 1599, The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar: “There is a tide in the affairs of men,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₃(w)- ‘to swim, flow’

deplorable, implore

Today it means

noun An overflow of a large amount of water (usually disastrous) from a lake or other body of water due to excessive rainfall or other input of water.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pleh₃(w)- / flood

Shirt and support for this word