Etymograph

English

then

Then comes from Old English þonne ‘then, at that time’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *þan ‘at that time, then’, whose deeper origin is disputed.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þan‘at that (time), then’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þan‘then, at that time’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanic, derivedc. 200–500 CE*þannēreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150þonne‘then, at that time’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500then(ne)
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590then

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þan‘at that (time), then’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þan‘then, at that time’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanic, derivedc. 200–500 CE*þannēreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150þonne‘then, at that time’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500then(ne)
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590then

Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto VIII: “[…]his hand, more ſad [i.e., heavy, hard] then lomp…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *só ‘demonstrative pronoun, that’

these, soon, contamination, sic, tandem, contaminate, contaminant, tanto, thereabouts, 6 more

through Old English þonne ‘then, at that time’

than

Today it means

adv At that time.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *þan / then

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