Etymograph

English

think

Think comes from Middle English thinken ‘to think, ponder’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *teng-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teng-‘to think’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þankijaną‘to think’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þankijan‘to think’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150þenċan‘to think’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thinken‘to think’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1601–1602think

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teng-‘to think’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þankijaną‘to think’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þankijan‘to think’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150þenċan‘to think’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thinken‘to think’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1601–1602think

Earliest quotation: c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, Twelfe Night, or What You Will: “My brother he is in Elizium, / Perchance he…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *teng- ‘to think, feel, know’

thank, tent, dunk, thoughtless, tinge, tincture, methinks, 18 more

through Proto-Germanic *þankijaną ‘to think’

thought, 10 more

through Old English þenċan ‘to think’

forethought, 4 more

Another origin of think

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teng-‘to think, perceive’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þunkijaną‘to seem’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150þyncan‘to seem, appear’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thinken
  5. Englishtodaythink

Today it means

verb To ponder, to go over in one's mind.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *teng- / think

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