English
huge
Huge comes from Middle English huge, from Old French ahuge ‘high, great’, of unknown origin.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400ahuge‘high, lofty, great’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500huge‘huge’
- Englishearliest quotation 1907same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400ahuge‘high, lofty, great’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500huge‘huge’
- Englishearliest quotation 1907same form
Earliest quotation: 1907, Robert William Chambers, New York: “I don't mean all of your friends—only a small…”
The story
One theory derives it from an underlying Old French a hoge (‘at height’), from a (‘at, to’) + hoge (‘a hill, height’), the latter from Frankish *haug or cognate Old Norse haugr (‘hill’); both from Proto-Germanic *haugaz (‘hill, mound’), from Proto-Indo-European *kowkós (‘hill, mound’), from the root Proto-Indo-European *kewk-, whence also English high.disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kewk- ‘to bend’
Today it means
adj Very large.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French ahuge / huge