Etymograph

English

snake

Snake comes from Old English snaca ‘snake, serpent, reptile’, from Proto-West Germanic *snakan ‘to creep, slide’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sneganą.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sneganą‘to crawl, creep’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*snakanąreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*snakan‘to creep, slide’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanic, derivedc. 200–500 CE*snakō‘slider, snake’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150snaca‘snake, serpent, reptile’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500snake
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1838same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sneganą‘to crawl, creep’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*snakanąreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*snakan‘to creep, slide’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanic, derivedc. 200–500 CE*snakō‘slider, snake’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150snaca‘snake, serpent, reptile’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500snake
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1838same form

Earliest quotation: 1838, – 1839 October, Charles Dickens: “Mrs. Kenwigs was horror-stricken to think that she should…”

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *sneganą

Today it means

noun Any of the suborder Serpentes of legless reptiles with long, thin bodies and fork-shaped tongues.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *sneganą / snake

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