Etymograph

English

gazon

Gazon comes from French gazon ‘lawn’, from Frankish *wasō ‘ground, turf, sod’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wes- ‘moist, damp, wet’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wes-‘moist, damp, wet’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wasô‘moisture’reconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*wasō‘ground, turf, sod’reconstructed
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400gason
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600gazon
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘lawn’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1659same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wes-‘moist, damp, wet’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wasô‘moisture’reconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*wasō‘ground, turf, sod’reconstructed
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400gason
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600gazon
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘lawn’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1659same form

Earliest quotation: 1659, Laurence Sterne: “—I would throw out the earth upon this hand…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wes- ‘moist, damp, wet’

wear, invest, vest, bison, venal, basmati, vend, 24 more

Today it means

noun One of the pieces of sod used to line or cover parapets and the faces of earthworks.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *wes- / gazon

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