English
month
Month comes from Old English mōnaþ, from Proto-Germanic *mēnōþs ‘month’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s ‘moon, month’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mḗh₁n̥s‘moon’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mēnōþsreconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mānōþreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150mōnaþ
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mon(e)th
- Englishearliest quotation 1624month
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mḗh₁n̥s‘moon’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mēnōþsreconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mānōþreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150mōnaþ
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mon(e)th
- Englishearliest quotation 1624month
Earliest quotation: 1624, Democritus Junior pseudonym; Robert Burt, The Anatomy of Melancholy: […]: “Sckenkius hath two other instances of two melancholy and…”
The story
From Middle English mon(e)th, from Old English mōnaþ, from Proto-West Germanic *mānōþ, from Proto-Germanic *mēnōþs (‘month’), from Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s (‘moon, month’), probably derived from *meh₁- (‘measure’) with moon-cycles being used to measure time. Eclipsed non-native Old English calend (‘month’), borrowed from Latin calendae.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ‘measure’
measure, meal, moral, meter, immense, metric, dimensional, dimension, metre, meta, mesa, moody, asymmetry, commensurate, mensa, madder, metrology, mete, metis, metra, firman, moodiness, 64 more
through Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s ‘moon, month’
Today it means
noun A period into which a year is divided, historically based on the phases of the moon.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s / month