English
kinsfolk
Kinsfolk comes from Middle English kynsefolke.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500kynsefolke
- Englishearliest quotation 2020kinsfolk
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500kynsefolke
- Englishearliest quotation 2020kinsfolk
Earliest quotation: 2020, Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light: “When you become a great man, you meet kinsfolk…”
A compound of kin + -s- + folk
Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to produce’
…
Proto-Germanic *kunją ‘race, generation, descent’
Proto-West Germanic *kuni ‘family, kin’
Old English cynn ‘kind, sort, rank’
Middle English kyn ‘a family’
English kin
Proto-Germanic *fulką ‘troop, army’
Proto-West Germanic *folk ‘military, army, troop’
Old English folc ‘the people, especially the common people’
Middle English folk ‘people, folk’
English folk
Every English word from Middle English kynsefolke
Today it means
noun —
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English kynsefolke / kinsfolk