Etymograph

English

goal

Goal comes from Middle English gol ‘boundary, limit’, from Old English *gāl ‘obstacle, barrier, marker’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- ‘to yawn, gape’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰeh₂-‘to yawn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gailō‘crevice’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gailureconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150*gāl‘obstacle’reconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gol‘boundary’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2011goal

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰeh₂-‘to yawn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gailō‘crevice’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gailureconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150*gāl‘obstacle’reconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gol‘boundary’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2011goal

Earliest quotation: 2011, Saj Chowdhury, Norwich 2-1 Nott'm Forest: “The former Forest man, who passed a late fitness…”

Linked words

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

gas, gap, chaos, gum, chaotic, gill, hiatus, gab, gape, 10 more

Today it means

noun A result that one is attempting to achieve.

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

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

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