English

overgo

Overgo comes from Old English ofergān ‘to pass over, beyond, across, traverse, cross,…’, from gān ‘to go’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- ‘to leave’.

Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰeh₁-‘to leave’reconstructed
Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gāną‘to go, walk’reconstructed
Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gān‘to go’reconstructed
Old Englishc. 450–1150gān‘to go’
Old English, derivedc. 450–1150ofergān‘to pass over, beyond, across, traverse, cross, transgress, overstep, overrun, overcome’
Middle Englishc. 1150–1500overgon
Englishearliest quotation 1590overgo

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰeh₁-‘to leave’reconstructed
Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gāną‘to go, walk’reconstructed
Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gān‘to go’reconstructed
Old Englishc. 450–1150gān‘to go’
Old English, derivedc. 450–1150ofergān‘to pass over, beyond, across, traverse, cross, transgress, overstep, overrun, overcome’
Middle Englishc. 1150–1500overgon
Englishearliest quotation 1590overgo

Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto III: “forward rode, and kept her readie way / Along…”

Formed from over- + go

Proto-Indo-European *úp

Proto-Indo-European *upér ‘over’

Proto-Germanic *uber ‘over’

English over-

Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- ‘to leave’

Proto-Germanic *gāną ‘to go’

Proto-West Germanic *gān ‘to go’

Old English gān ‘to go’

Middle English gon

English go

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- ‘to leave’

heritage, heir, hereditary, inherit, heredity, 19 more

through Old English gān ‘to go’

go, gone, forego, 2 more

Today it means

verb To cross, go over (a barrier etc.); to surmount.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- / overgo

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