Etymograph

English

frog

Frog comes from Middle English frogge ‘a frog or toad’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *prew- ‘to jump’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*prew-‘to jump’root as named
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*froggōreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150frocga
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500frogge‘a frog or toad’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1611frog

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*prew-‘to jump’root as named
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*froggōreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150frocga
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500frogge‘a frog or toad’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1611frog

Earliest quotation: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “1 And the Lord spake vnto Moses, Goe vnto…”

The story

Possibly related to Saterland Frisian Poage (‘frog’), German Low German Pogg, Pogge (‘frog’). Sense 5 (organ on a horse's hoof) is a calque of Ancient Greek βάτραχος (bátrakhos).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *prew- ‘to jump’

frolic, frosh, 2 more

Another origin of frog

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰlok-uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfloccus‘flock’uncertain
  3. Portuguesec. 1500–presentfroco‘flock’uncertain
  4. Englishtodayfrog

Possibly borrowed from Portuguese froco (‘flock’), from Latin floccus (‘flock’).

Today it means

noun Any of a class of small tailless amphibians of the order Anura that typically hop.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *prew- / frog

Shirt and support for this word