Etymograph

English

laugh

Laugh comes from Middle English laughen, from Old English hlæhhan, hliehhan ‘to laugh’, from Proto-Germanic *hlahjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *klek- ‘to laugh, cackle’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*klek-‘to laugh, cackle’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hlahjaną‘to laugh’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hlahhjan‘to laugh’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hliehhan‘to laugh’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500laughen
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602laugh

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*klek-‘to laugh, cackle’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hlahjaną‘to laugh’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hlahhjan‘to laugh’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150hliehhan‘to laugh’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500laughen
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602laugh

Earliest quotation: c. 1602, William Shakespeare: “But there was ſuch laughing, Queen Hecuba laught that…”

Linked words

through Old English hliehhan ‘to laugh’

low, 1 more

Today it means

noun An expression of mirth particular to the human species; the sound heard in laughing; laughter.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *klek- / laugh

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