Etymograph

English

snot

Snot comes from Middle English snot ‘Snot, mucus’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *snuttuz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*snuttuz‘nasal mucus’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*snottreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150ġesnot‘nasal mucus’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500snot‘Snot, mucus’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1948same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*snuttuz‘nasal mucus’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*snottreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150ġesnot‘nasal mucus’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500snot‘Snot, mucus’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1948same form

Earliest quotation: c. 1948, George Orwell, Such: “Once, I remember, the little fair-haired boy had a…”

The story

From Middle English snot, snotte, from Old English ġesnot, *snott, from Proto-West Germanic *snott, *snutt, from Proto-Germanic *snuttuz (‘nasal mucus’), from the same base as snout; ultimately of onomatopoeic or sound-symbolic origin (compare sniff, snuff, snoot, snook), but possibly continuing Proto-Indo-European *snew-t- (‘to flow, run’). Related also to snite.

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *snuttuz

Today it means

noun Mucus, especially mucus from the nose.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *snuttuz / snot

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