Etymograph

English

nomad

Nomad comes from Latin Nomas ‘wandering shepherd’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *nem-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*nem-next step skipped: Ancient Greek νομός
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEνομάςnomás‘roaming, wandering, esp. to find pasture’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CENomas‘wandering shepherd’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600nomade
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1587nomad

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*nem-next step skipped: Ancient Greek νομός
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEνομάςnomás‘roaming, wandering, esp. to find pasture’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CENomas‘wandering shepherd’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600nomade
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1587nomad

Earliest quotation: 1587, Philippe de Mornay, A Woorke Concerning the Trewnesse of the Christian Religion: “The life of the people called the Nomads or…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *nem-

number, numerous, numb, innumerable, numeric, nim, numeral, enumeration, numeracy, numero, enumerate, naam, numerator, nome, luma, numismatics, 26 more

Today it means

noun A member of a society or class who herd animals from pasture to pasture with no fixed home.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *nem- / nomad

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