English
goddess
Goddess comes from Middle English goddesse.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500goddesse
- Englishearliest quotation 2014goddess
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500goddesse
- Englishearliest quotation 2014goddess
Earliest quotation: 2014, Mary Castillo, Caridad Pineiro Scordato: “The girls who had tormented me in high school…”
Formed from god + -ess
Proto-Germanic *gudą ‘god, deity’
Proto-West Germanic *god ‘god, deity’
Old English god ‘god’
Middle English god
English god
first attested The figurative meaning is first found in Edmund Spenser's Shepheardes calender (1579) (as stated in the etymology)
The story
The figurative meaning is first found in Edmund Spenser's Shepheardes calender (1579).
Every English word from Middle English goddesse
Today it means
noun A female deity.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English goddesse / goddess