Etymograph

English

thus

Thus comes from Old English þus ‘thus, in this way, as follows, in this manner,…’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *þus.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þus‘so’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150þus‘thus’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thus
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1879same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þus‘so’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150þus‘thus’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500thus
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1879same form

Earliest quotation: 1879, Richard Jefferies, London: Smith: “But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me…”

The story

From Middle English thus, þus, from Old English þus (‘thus, in this way, as follows, in this manner, to this extent’), from Proto-West Germanic *þus (‘so, thus’), perhaps originally from a variant of the instrumental form of this, related to Old English þȳs (‘by this, with this’), Old Saxon thius (‘by this, with this’).

Every English word from Proto-West Germanic *þus

Today it means

adv In this way or manner.

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

Etymograph / Proto-West Germanic *þus / thus

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