Etymograph

English

or

Or comes from Middle English or, contracted from other, from Old English āþor ‘either’, a contraction of āhwæþer; it was partly also influenced by Old English oþþe ‘or’.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150āhwæþer
  2. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150āþor‘either’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500other
  4. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500or
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1897or

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150āhwæþer
  2. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150āþor‘either’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500other
  4. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500or
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1897or

Earliest quotation: 1897, Winston Churchill: “No matter how early I came down, I would…”

Linked words

through Middle English or

ore

Another origin of or

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ews-‘to dawn, become light, become red’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éws-o-mreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*auzom‘gold’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaurum‘gold’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400or‘gold (metal)’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600or‘yellow’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500or‘gold’
  8. Englishtodayor

Today it means

conj Connects at least two alternative words, phrases, clauses, sentences, etc., each of which could make a passage true.

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

Etymograph / Old English āhwæþer / or

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