Etymograph

English

pit

Pit comes from Old English pytt ‘well, pool’, and goes back to Latin puteus.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEputeus‘trench, pit, well’
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*puti‘well (water)’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150pytt‘well, pool’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pit
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1611same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEputeus‘trench, pit, well’
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*puti‘well (water)’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150pytt‘well, pool’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pit
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1611same form

Earliest quotation: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “27 Whoso diggeth a pit, shall fall therein: and…”

Every English word from Latin puteus

Another origin of pit

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pittanreconstructed
  2. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500pitte
  3. Dutchc. 1500–presentpit‘kernel, core’
  4. Englishtodaysame form

Today it means

noun A hole in the ground.

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

Etymograph / Latin puteus / pit

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