Etymograph

English

merd

Merd comes from French merde ‘shit!, crap!’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd-h₂- ‘stench’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)merd-h₂-‘stench’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*(s)merdāreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmerda‘dung, excrement, shit’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400merde‘shit (feces)’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600same form‘shit (feces)’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘shit!, crap!’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1624merd

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)merd-h₂-‘stench’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*(s)merdāreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmerda‘dung, excrement, shit’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400merde‘shit (feces)’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600same form‘shit (feces)’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘shit!, crap!’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1624merd

Earliest quotation: 1624, Democritus Junior pseudonym; Robert Burt, The Anatomy of Melancholy: […]: “discuss the original of a merd.”

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd-h₂-

Today it means

noun Ordure; dung, shit, excrement.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd-h₂- / merd

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