English
stretching
Stretching comes from Middle English strecching.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500strecching
- Englishearliest quotation 1859stretching
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500strecching
- Englishearliest quotation 1859stretching
Earliest quotation: 1859, Victor Regnault: “[Skins] must be submitted to several washings, treadings, and…”
Formed from stretch + -ing
Proto-Indo-European *(s)treg- ‘stiff, rigid’
Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan ‘to stretch, make taut’
Old English streċċan ‘to stretch, extend’
Middle English strecchen ‘to stretch out, extend’
English stretch
Every English word from Middle English strecching
Another origin of stretching
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)treg-‘rigid, stiff’uncertain
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*strakaz‘stretched, straight’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*strak‘stretched, straight’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanic, derivedc. 200–500 CE*strakkjan‘to stretch’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanic, derivedc. 200–500 CE*strakkjandīreconstructedpresent participle of *strakkjan
- Old Englishc. 450–1150streċċende
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500strecchinge
- Englishtodaystretching
Today it means
noun The act by which something is stretched.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English strecching / stretching