English
hut
Hut comes from Old English hōd ‘hood’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *hōdaz.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hōdaz‘hood’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hōdreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hōd‘hood’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*huttereconstructed
- Englishearliest quotation 1625hut
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hōdaz‘hood’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hōdreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150hōd‘hood’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*huttereconstructed
- Englishearliest quotation 1625hut
Earliest quotation: 1625, Nicholas Breton, An Untrained Souldiour: “And in his Hut, when hee to rest doth…”
The story
From Middle English *hutte, hotte, from both Old English hōd and Old English hȳdan (‘to hide’) and influenced by Anglo-Norman hute or hutte, from Middle French hutte, from Old French hute (‘hut’), hute (‘cottage’), from Old High German hutta (‘hut, cottage’), from Proto-Germanic *hudjǭ, *hudjō (‘hut’), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewt- (‘to deck; cover; covering; skin’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kadʰ- ‘to cover, protect’
through Old English hōd ‘hood’
Today it means
noun A small, simple one-storey dwelling or shelter, often with just one room, and generally built of readily available local materials.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *hōdaz / hut