Etymograph

English

radish

Radish comes from Latin radix ‘root of a plant’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wréh₂ds‘root’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wrādīks‘root’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEradixas rādīcem‘root of a plant’
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*rādikreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150rǣdiċ
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500radiche
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1659radish

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wréh₂ds‘root’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wrādīks‘root’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEradixas rādīcem‘root of a plant’
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*rādikreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150rǣdiċ
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500radiche
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1659radish

Earliest quotation: 1659, Of Propagation by Seed: “Many times they ſow divers ſeeds in a Bed…”

The story

From Middle English radiche, from Old English rǣdiċ, from Proto-West Germanic *rādik, borrowed from Latin rādīcem (‘root of a plant; radish’); later influenced by Anglo-Norman radich and Middle French radice, borrowed from Italian radice, from the same Latin source.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds ‘root’

root, rote, wort, rance, ramus, 26 more

through Proto-Italic *wrādīks ‘root’

radically, 12 more

through Latin radix ‘root of a plant’

race, radical, eradicate, eradication, radix, 13 more

Today it means

noun A plant of the Brassicaceae family, Raphanus sativus or Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. sativus, having an edible root.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds / radish

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