English
husband
Husband comes from Middle English husbonde ‘a husband’, and goes back to Old English hūsbonda ‘master of the house’.
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hūsbonda‘master of the house’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500husbonde‘a husband’
- Englishearliest quotation 1596husband
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hūsbonda‘master of the house’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500husbonde‘a husband’
- Englishearliest quotation 1596husband
Earliest quotation: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book IV, Canto III: “[…] a withered tree, through husbands toyle, Is often…”
A compound of hūs ‘house’ + bonda ‘husband’
Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- ‘to cover, conceal, hide’
Proto-Germanic *hūsą ‘house’
Proto-West Germanic *hūs ‘house’
Old English hūs ‘house’
Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to be, become, grow, appear’
Proto-Germanic *būaną ‘to dwell, reside’
Old Norse búa ‘to reside, to live’
Old Norse bóndi ‘farmer’
Old English bonda ‘husband’
Every English word from Old English hūsbonda
Today it means
noun A man in a marriage or marital relationship, especially in relation to his spouse.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old English hūsbonda / husband