English
tool
Tool comes from Old English tōl ‘tool, implement’, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tōlą and Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ‘to secure’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dewh₂-‘to tie to, secure’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tōlą‘tool’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150tōl‘tool’literally ‘that with which one prepares something’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tool‘a tool’
- Englishearliest quotation 1613tool
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dewh₂-‘to tie to, secure’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tōlą‘tool’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150tōl‘tool’literally ‘that with which one prepares something’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tool‘a tool’
- Englishearliest quotation 1613tool
Earliest quotation: 1613, William Shakespeare, The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight: “Or haue wee some strange Indian with the great…”
Formed from taw ‘to prepare’ + -le
Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ‘to tie to, secure’
…
Proto-West Germanic *tauwjan ‘to prepare’
Proto-West Germanic *tawōn
Old English tawian ‘to do, make’
Middle English tawen
English taw
The story
From Middle English tool, tol, from Old English tōl (“tool, implement, instrument”, literally “that with which one prepares something”), perhaps borrowed from Old Norse tól, but at any rate ultimately from Proto-Germanic *tōlą (‘that which is used in preparation, tool’), from Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- (‘to tie to, secure’), equivalent to taw (‘to prepare’) + -le (agent suffix).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ‘to tie to, secure’
down, beautiful, town, beauty, ben, bonus, teen, dynamic, beneficial, rebel, optimal, dynasty, bonnie, optimism, beau, boo, beneficiary, dun, bona, tow, dynamo, revel, boon, bello, bene, bonny, dynastic, tine, taw, bauble, bellicose, bonbon, 97 more
Today it means
noun Any physical device meant to ease or do a task.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- / tool