Etymograph

English

gate

Gate comes from Old English ġeat (plural gatu), from Proto-West Germanic *gat, from Proto-Germanic *gatą ‘hole, opening’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gatą‘hole, opening’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gat‘opening, gate’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150ġeat‘gate, door’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gate‘gate’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1870same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gatą‘hole, opening’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gat‘opening, gate’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150ġeat‘gate, door’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gate‘gate’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1870same form

Earliest quotation: 1870, 1870 April, The Peking Gazettes: “At 7, he made his exit through the Ch‘ien-ch‘ing…”

Linked words

through Middle English gate

gait

Another origin of gate

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gatwǭ‘street, passage’reconstructed
  2. Old Norsec. 800–1350gata‘street, road’
  3. Englishtodaygate

Today it means

noun A doorlike structure outside a house.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *gatą / gate

Shirt and support for this word