Etymograph

English

slough

Slough comes from Middle English slogh, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *sluk-.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sluk-reconstructed
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slogh
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1886slough

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sluk-reconstructed
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slogh
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1886slough

Earliest quotation: 1886, – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard: “And without more ado she stood up and shook…”

The story

From Middle English slogh, slugh, slouh, from Proto-Germanic *sluk-, perhaps related to *sleupaną (‘to slip, sneak’) (compare Gothic 𐍃𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍀𐌰𐌽 (sliupan)). Perhaps also related with Old Saxon slūk (‘snakeskin’), Middle High German slūch, whence German Schlauch (‘waterskin, hose’).

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *sluk-

Another origin of slough

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slōhazuncertain
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slough‘muddy place’
  3. Englishtodaysame form

Today it means

noun The skin shed by a snake or other reptile.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *sluk- / slough

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