Etymograph

English

sow

Sow comes from Middle English sowe ‘a sow’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *sugō.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sugōreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sugu‘sow (female pig)’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sugu‘sow (female pig)’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sowe‘a sow’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1957sow

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sugōreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sugu‘sow (female pig)’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sugu‘sow (female pig)’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sowe‘a sow’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1957sow

Earliest quotation: 1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry: “In England, it was generally termed a 'sow', if…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *suH- ‘pig’

swine, hyena, 7 more

Another origin of sow

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₁-‘to impress, insert’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sēaną‘to sow, to disperse (seeds)’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sāan‘to sow’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150sāwan‘to sow (seed, etc.)’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sowen‘to sow’
  6. Englishtodaysow

Today it means

noun A female pig.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *sugō / sow

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