Etymograph

English

geason

Geason comes from Middle English geson ‘rare, scarce’, from Old English gǣsne ‘deprived of, wanting, destitute, barren,…’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- ‘to be gaping, yawn’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰeh₂-‘to be gaping, yawn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gaisnī‘barren, poor’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150gǣsne‘deprived of, wanting, destitute, barren, sterile, dead’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500geson‘rare, scarce’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1588geason

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰeh₂-‘to be gaping, yawn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gaisnī‘barren, poor’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150gǣsne‘deprived of, wanting, destitute, barren, sterile, dead’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500geson‘rare, scarce’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1588geason

Earliest quotation: 1588, George Puttenham, Of Proportion: “[…] ye shal finde many other word to rime…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- ‘to be gaping, yawn’

goal, gas, gap, chaos, gum, chaotic, gill, hiatus, gab, gape, 9 more

Today it means

adj Rare; uncommon; scarce.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- / geason

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