English
steam
Steam comes from Old English stēam, from Proto-Germanic *staumaz ‘steam, vapour’, from earlier *staubmaz, from *staubaz ‘dust’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*staubaz‘dust’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*staumaz‘steam, vapour’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150stēam‘steam’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500steem
- Englishearliest quotation 1590steam
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*staubaz‘dust’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*staumaz‘steam, vapour’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150stēam‘steam’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500steem
- Englishearliest quotation 1590steam
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto I: “like inward fire that outward smoke had steemd”.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- ‘to whirl, waft, stink, shake’
down, dye, funk, dew, dun, dune, duvet, dag, fume, thymus, fumigation, typhon, obfuscate, 27 more
Today it means
noun The hot gaseous form of water, formed when water changes from the liquid phase to the gas phase (at or above its boiling point temperature).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *staubaz / steam