Etymograph

English

plug

Plug comes from Dutch plug ‘wall plug’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *plugi.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*plugireconstructed
  2. Old Dutchc. 500–1150*pluggireconstructed
  3. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500plugge‘peg, plug’
  4. Dutchc. 1500–presentsame form
  5. Dutch, derivedc. 1500–presentplug‘wall plug’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1886same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*plugireconstructed
  2. Old Dutchc. 500–1150*pluggireconstructed
  3. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500plugge‘peg, plug’
  4. Dutchc. 1500–presentsame form
  5. Dutch, derivedc. 1500–presentplug‘wall plug’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1886same form

Earliest quotation: 1886, The Publishers Weekly: “Stack all new and fresh, composed of the fast-selling…”

The story

Possibly from Proto-Germanic *plugjaz, but the word seems originally restricted to northern continental West Germanic. Perhaps ultimately from the same source as Dutch plag (‘cut-out sod’), itself considered to be from a substrate.

Every English word from Proto-West Germanic *plugi

Today it means

noun A pronged connecting device which fits into a mating socket, especially an electrical one.

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

Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *plugi / plug

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