English
groaning
Groaning comes from Middle English gronynge, and goes back to Old English grānung.
- Old Englishc. 450–1150grānung
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gronynge
- Englishearliest quotation 1997groaning
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Englishc. 450–1150grānung
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gronynge
- Englishearliest quotation 1997groaning
Earliest quotation: 1997, Helen Papanikolas, A Greek Odyssey in the American West: “From the nearby rail yards came clangings, groanings, chuggings.”
Formed from groan + -ing
Proto-Germanic *grīnaną ‘to whine’
Proto-Germanic *grainōną ‘to howl’
Proto-West Germanic *grainōn
Old English grānian ‘to groan’
Middle English gronen ‘to groan or cry due to birth pangs’
English groan
The story
Conflated with Middle English gronende, present participle of gronen, from Old English grāniende, present participle of grānian (‘to groan’).
Every English word from Old English grānung
Today it means
adj That groans.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old English grānung / groaning