Etymograph

English

sunbeam

Sunbeam comes from Middle English sonnebem ‘a sunbeam’, and goes back to Old English sunnebēam.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150sunnebēam1as sunnbēam
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sonnebem1‘a sunbeam’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1957sunbeam1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English sunbeam
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1957, Rudolf Arnheim, Film as Art: “I cut-in various other material to this; for instance,…”.

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150sunnebēamWiktionary, English sunbeamas sunnbēam
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sonnebemWiktionary, English sunbeam‘a sunbeam’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1957sunbeamWiktionary, English sunbeam. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1957, Rudolf Arnheim, Film as Art: “I cut-in various other material to this; for instance,…”

A compound of sun + beam

Proto-West Germanic *sunnā

Old English sunna

Middle English soen

English sun

Proto-Indo-European *bʰew- ‘to grow, swell’

Proto-Germanic *baumaz ‘tree, beam, balk’

Proto-West Germanic *baum ‘tree’

Old English bēam ‘tree, cross, gallows, column, pillar, wood,…’

Middle English bem ‘a beam’

English beam

Every English word from Old English sunnebēam

Today it means

noun A ray of sunlight; especially, a demarcated, narrow, and intense (relative to ambient light) ray of sunlight (as revealed by, for example, its diffraction among dust particles).

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

Etymograph / Old English sunnebēam / sunbeam

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