Etymograph

English

cow

Cow comes from Middle English cow ‘a cow’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷṓwsreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kōzreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kōreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cū
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cow‘a cow’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1933same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷṓwsreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kōzreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kōreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cū
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cow‘a cow’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1933same form

Earliest quotation: 1933, George Orwell pseudonym; Eric Arthur Bla, London: Victor Gollancz […]: “[…] the worst insult to a woman, either in…”

The story

The plural kine is from Middle English kyne, kyn, kuin, kiin, kien (‘cows’), either a double plural of Middle English ky, kye (‘cows’), equivalent to modern kye + -en, or inherited from Old English cūna (‘cows', of cows’), genitive plural of cū (‘cow’).

Linked words

pairs

  • cow and bugle both from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws

through Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws

beef, buffalo, boa, bovine, bulimia, gopi, boeuf, bucolic, 9 more

through Old English cū

kye, kie

Another origin of cow

  1. Old Norsec. 800–1350kúga‘to oppress’uncertain
  2. Englishtodaycow

Probably from Old Norse kúga (‘to oppress’) (whence also Norwegian and Danish kue, Swedish kuva); compare Icelandic kúfa (‘to set on top’) and Faroese kúga (‘to oppress’).

Today it means

noun An adult female of the species Bos taurus, especially one that has calved.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws / cow

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