Etymograph

English

liver

Liver comes from Middle English lyvere ‘the liver as the purported origin of love’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *librō.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*librōreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*librureconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150lifer
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lyvere‘the liver as the purported origin of love’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1993liver

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*librōreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*librureconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150lifer
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lyvere‘the liver as the purported origin of love’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1993liver

Earliest quotation: 1993, Philippa Gregory, Fallen Skies: “I should think you've rocked the boat enough already…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ley- ‘to be slimy, be sticky, glide’

lethal, lin, littoral, 1 more

through Proto-Indo-European *leyp- ‘to smear, smudge, stick’

life, leave, living, twelve, alive, eleven, lib, lively, lipid, lipa, lave, liven, 16 more

Another origin of liver

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lyvere
  2. Englishtodayliver

Today it means

noun A large organ in the body that stores and metabolizes nutrients, destroys toxins and produces bile. It is responsible for thousands of biochemical reactions.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *librō / liver

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