English
hour
Hour comes from Ancient Greek ὥρᾱ ‘any defined period of time’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ ‘year, season’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*yóh₁r̥‘year’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὥρᾱhṓrā‘any defined period of time’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhōra
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400houre
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation 1661hour
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*yóh₁r̥‘year’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὥρᾱhṓrā‘any defined period of time’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhōra
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400houre
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation 1661hour
Earliest quotation: 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned: “During the whole time of his abode in the…”
The story
Partly displaced native Old English tīd (‘time, hour’), whence Modern English tide.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- ‘to throw’
project, disease, object, ease, jet, adjacent, injection, jess, trajectory, inject, catheter, gist, conjecture, ejection, jetty, abject, eject, ejaculation, enema, ejaculate, jettison, jut, subjection, iambic, interject, joist, jetsam, 43 more
through Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ ‘year, season’
Today it means
noun A unit of time of one twenty-fourth of a day (sixty minutes).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ / hour