Etymograph

English

orb

Orb comes from Old French orbe, and goes back to Latin orbis ‘circle, orb’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEorbis‘circle, orb’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400orbe
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1598–1599orb

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEorbis‘circle, orb’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400orbe
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1598–1599orb

Earliest quotation: 1598–1599, Much Adoe about Nothing: “You seem to me as Dian in her orb.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₃erbʰ- ‘to turn’

robot, bot, orphan, orbit, erf, 15 more

Another origin of orb

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃erbʰ-‘to change ownership’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃órbʰos‘orphan’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEorbus‘destitute’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400orb‘blind’
  5. Englishtodaysame form

Today it means

noun A spherical body; a sphere, especially one of the celestial spheres; a sun, planet, or star

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

Etymograph / Latin orbis / orb

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