English
glimpse
Glimpse comes from Middle English glimsen ‘to dazzle’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500glimsen‘to dazzle’
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1548glimpse
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500glimsen‘to dazzle’
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1548glimpse
Earliest quotation: a. 1548, [Henry Howard, The Forsaken Louer Describeth and Forsaketh Loue: “O Lothſome place where I / Haue ſene and…”
The story
The verb is derived from earlier glimse (obsolete), from Middle English glimsen (‘to dazzle; to glisten; to glance with the eyes’), possibly from Old English *glimsian, from Proto-West Germanic *glimmisōjan, from Proto-Germanic *glimō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (‘to shine’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- ‘to shine’
Today it means
verb To see or view (someone, or something tangible) briefly and incompletely.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English glimsen / glimpse