English
herbage
Herbage comes from Latin herba ‘grass’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEherba‘grass’
- Early Medieval Latinmodernherbāticum
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400erbage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500herbage
- Englishearliest quotation 1841herbage
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEherba‘grass’
- Early Medieval Latinmodernherbāticum
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400erbage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500herbage
- Englishearliest quotation 1841herbage
Earliest quotation: 1841, Edgar Allan Poe: “I threw myself upon my face, and clung to…”.
Equivalent to herb + -age
Latin herba ‘grass, herbage’
Old French erbe ‘grass’
Middle English herbe ‘a herbaceous plant’
English herb
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- ‘to grow, become green’
green, grow, grass, groom, gourmet, graze, greedily, ambergris, yerba, 17 more
through Latin herba ‘grass’
Today it means
noun Herbs collectively.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin herba / herbage