English
snare
Snare comes from Middle English snare ‘a trap for catching animals’, from Old English sneare ‘snare, noose’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *snarhǭ ‘a sling’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*snarhǭ1‘a sling’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*snarhā1reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150sneare1‘snare, noose’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500snare1‘a trap for catching animals’
- Englishearliest quotation 1591snare1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English snare
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1591, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Sixt: “If thou retire, the Dauphin, well appointed, Stands with…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*snarhǭWiktionary, English snare‘a sling’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*snarhāWiktionary, English snarereconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150sneareWiktionary, English snare‘snare, noose’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500snareWiktionary, English snare‘a trap for catching animals’
- Englishearliest quotation 1591snareWiktionary, English snare. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1591, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Sixt: “If thou retire, the Dauphin, well appointed, Stands with…”
The story
Also related to German Schnur and Dutch snaar, snoer.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)nerk- ‘to wind up, contract’
through Middle English snare ‘a trap for catching animals’
Today it means
noun A trap (especially one made from a loop of wire, string, or leather).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *snarhǭ / snare