Etymograph

English

glint

Glint comes from Middle English glenten ‘to shine, gleam’.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500glenten‘to shine, gleam’
  2. Scotsc. 1450–presentglint
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1785same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500glenten‘to shine, gleam’
  2. Scotsc. 1450–presentglint
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1785same form

Earliest quotation: 1785, Robert Burns: “The rising sun owre Galston muirs, / Wi' glorious…”

The story

Borrowed from Scots glint, from Middle English glenten (‘to shine, gleam; flash’), probably from Old Norse *glenta, from Proto-Germanic *glantijaną, causitive of Proto-Germanic *glintaną (‘to gleam, shine’), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (‘to shine’). Reintroduced into literary English by Robert Burns.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- ‘to shine’

glimpse, glitter, gloom, gleam, glimmer, glisten, 3 more

Today it means

noun A short flash of light, usually when reflected off a shiny surface.

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

Etymograph / Middle English glenten / glint

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