Etymograph

English

glume

Glume comes from Latin gluma ‘husk of grain’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *glewbʰ- ‘to split’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*glewbʰ-‘to split’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*gl(e/o)wbʰ-m-eh₂reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*glouβ(s)māsreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgluma‘husk of grain’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1789glume

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*glewbʰ-‘to split’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*gl(e/o)wbʰ-m-eh₂reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*glouβ(s)māsreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgluma‘husk of grain’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1789glume

Earliest quotation: 1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants: “[T]he glume in some alpine grasses, and the scales…”

The story

The root can also be seen in glubere (‘to peel’).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *glewbʰ- ‘to split’

clive, cleft, clapper, clove, cleave, cleve, glyph, 11 more

Today it means

noun A basal, membranous, outer sterile husk or bract in the flowers of grasses (Poaceae) and sedges (Cyperaceae).

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *glewbʰ- / glume

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