Etymograph

English

gammon

Gammon comes from Old French gambon.

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400gambon
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*gammonreconstructed
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1936gammon

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400gambon
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*gammonreconstructed
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1936gammon

Earliest quotation: 1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway: “[T]he cooks were laying a refection before him of…”

Every English word from Old French gambon

Another origin of gammon

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gamaną‘fun, amusement, game’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gamanōną‘to play, have fun, joke’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gamanōn‘to play’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150gamnian‘to joke, play’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gamenen
  6. Englishtodaygammon

Today it means

noun A cut of quick-cured pork leg.

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

Etymograph / Old French gambon / gammon

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