Etymograph

English

highway

Highway comes from Old English hēahweġ ‘main road, highway’.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150hēahweġ‘main road’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500heiȝwai
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1963highway

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150hēahweġ‘main road’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500heiȝwai
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1963highway

Earliest quotation: 1963, Margery Allingham, London: Chatto & Windus: “The highway to the East Coast which ran through…”

Formed from high + way

Proto-Indo-European *kewk- ‘to bend’

Proto-Germanic *hauhaz

Proto-West Germanic *hauh

Old English hēah ‘high’

Middle English high

English high

Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to bring’

Proto-Germanic *wegaz

Proto-West Germanic *weg ‘way’

Old English weġ

Middle English way

English way

Every English word from Old English hēahweġ

Today it means

noun A main public road, especially a multi-lane, high-speed thoroughfare.

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

Etymograph / Old English hēahweġ / highway

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