Etymograph

English

heath

Heath comes from Middle English heth ‘a heath’, from Proto-West Germanic *haiþi ‘uncultivated land, wasteland, moor’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kayt-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kayt-‘forest, wasteland, pasture’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*haiþī‘heath, waste, untilled land’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*haiþi‘uncultivated land, wasteland, moor’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hǣþ‘heath, untilled land, waste’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500heth‘a heath’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1606heath

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kayt-‘forest, wasteland, pasture’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*haiþī‘heath, waste, untilled land’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*haiþi‘uncultivated land, wasteland, moor’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hǣþ‘heath, untilled land, waste’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500heth‘a heath’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1606heath

Earliest quotation: c. 1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Macbeth: “1. Where the place?/2. Vpon the Heath/3. There to…”

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *kayt-

Today it means

noun A tract of level uncultivated land with sandy soil and scrubby vegetation; heathland.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kayt- / heath

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