Etymograph

English

stench

Stench comes from Middle English stench ‘the sulphuric smell of hellfire’, from Old English stenċ ‘stench, odor, fragrance’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ- ‘to push, thrust’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*stengʷ-‘to push, thrust’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stankwiz‘smell, fragrance, odor’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150stenċ‘stench, odor, fragrance’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stench‘the sulphuric smell of hellfire’
  5. Englishearliest quotation a. 1701stench

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*stengʷ-‘to push, thrust’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*stankwiz‘smell, fragrance, odor’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150stenċ‘stench, odor, fragrance’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500stench‘the sulphuric smell of hellfire’
  5. Englishearliest quotation a. 1701stench

Earliest quotation: a. 1701, John Dryden, The First Book of Homer’s Ilias: “Black bulls, and bearded goats on altars lie; /…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ- ‘to push, thrust’

distinction, extinction, extinct, instinct, stink, 6 more

Today it means

noun a strong foul smell; a stink.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ- / stench

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