Etymograph

English

sowbug

Sowbug comes from Middle English sowe ‘sow, female pig’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *sugu.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sugu‘sow (female pig)’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150sūgu‘sow (female pig)’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sowe‘sow, female pig’
  4. Englishtodaysowbug

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sugu‘sow (female pig)’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150sūgu‘sow (female pig)’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sowe‘sow, female pig’
  4. Englishtodaysowbug

A compound of Middle English sowe (“sow, female pig; also woodlouse”) + bug

Middle English bugge ‘scarecrow, hobgoblin’

English bug

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *suH- ‘pig, hog, swine’

swine, hyena, 6 more

through Middle English sowe ‘sow, female pig’

sow

Today it means

noun A woodlouse.

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

Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *sugu / sowbug

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