Etymograph

English

tar

Tar comes from Middle English ter ‘Tar or a similar substance’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dór.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dórreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*terwąreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*teru‘tar, resin’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150teoru‘tar, resin’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ter‘Tar or a similar substance’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1723tar

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dórreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*terwąreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*teru‘tar, resin’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150teoru‘tar, resin’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ter‘Tar or a similar substance’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1723tar

Earliest quotation: 1723, Jonathan Swift, To Charles Mordaunt: “Shines in all climates like a star; In senates…”

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *dór

Another origin of tar

  1. Persianc. 900–presentتارtâr
  2. Englishtodaytar

Another origin of tar

  1. Arabicc. 500–presentطار‘to fly’
  2. Englishtodaytar

Today it means

noun Coal tar.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dór / tar

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