Etymograph

English

glee

Glee comes from Old English glēo ‘glee, pleasure, mirth, play, sport’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʰlew- ‘to joke, make fun, enjoy’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰlew-‘to joke, make fun, enjoy’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*glīwą‘joy, mirth’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*glīwreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150glēo‘glee, pleasure, mirth, play, sport’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gle
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1848glee

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰlew-‘to joke, make fun, enjoy’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*glīwą‘joy, mirth’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*glīwreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150glēo‘glee, pleasure, mirth, play, sport’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gle
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1848glee

Earliest quotation: 1848, – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray: “Sometimes they had glees, when Captain Strong’s chest was…”

The story

A poetic word in Middle English, the word was obsolete by 1500, but revived late 18c.

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *gʰlew-

Another origin of glee

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*glīwōnąreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*glīwōnreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150glēowian‘to sing, play an instrument, jest’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gleen
  5. Englishtodayglee

Today it means

noun Joy; happiness; great delight, especially from one's own good fortune or from another's misfortune.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gʰlew- / glee

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