English
haugh
Haugh comes from Scots haugh ‘a low-lying meadow in a river valley’, from Old English healh ‘corner, nook’, and ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *halh ‘a depression or elevation, an area of land…’.
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*halh‘a depression or elevation, an area of land that differs in elevation from what it…’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150healh‘corner, nook’
- Northern Middle Englishmodern*halghreconstructed
- Scotsc. 1450–presenthaugh‘a low-lying meadow in a river valley’
- Englishearliest quotation 1816same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*halh‘a depression or elevation, an area of land that differs in elevation from what it…’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150healh‘corner, nook’
- Northern Middle Englishmodern*halghreconstructed
- Scotsc. 1450–presenthaugh‘a low-lying meadow in a river valley’
- Englishearliest quotation 1816same form
Earliest quotation: 1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham pseudonym; Walter : “The sheriff of the county of Lanark was holding…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- ‘to cover’
hell, color, cell, hole, hall, holder, ceiling, hull, helmet, hollow, helm, holden, halt, conceal, uphold, occult, clandestine, sari, sala, cilia, recline, declination, declension, tricolour, holing, seel, hele, halberd, 37 more
Today it means
noun A low-lying meadow by the side of a river.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *halh / haugh