Etymograph

English

turn

Turn comes from Middle English turnen, from Old English turnian ‘to turn, rotate’, from Latin tornāre ‘to turn in a lathe’, from tornus ‘lathe’, from Ancient Greek τόρνος ‘turning-lathe’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-‘to rub, rub by turning, turn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*tórh₁nosreconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*tórnosreconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτόρνοςtórnos‘turning-lathe’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtornus‘lathe’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtornō‘to round off, turn in a lathe’
  7. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*turnēn‘to turn, lathe’reconstructed
  8. Old Englishc. 450–1150turnian‘to turn, rotate’
  9. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500turnen‘to turn’
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1526turn

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-‘to rub, rub by turning, turn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*tórh₁nosreconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*tórnosreconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτόρνοςtórnos‘turning-lathe’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtornus‘lathe’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtornō‘to round off, turn in a lathe’
  7. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*turnēn‘to turn, lathe’reconstructed
  8. Old Englishc. 450–1150turnian‘to turn, rotate’
  9. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500turnen‘to turn’
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1526turn

Earliest quotation: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “And they made a calfe in thoſe dayes /…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- ‘to rub, rub by turning, turn, twist, bore’

throw, thread, tragic, threshold, trout, detrimental, tyrone, detriment, attrition, thrash, triage, trite, termite, tribulation, detritus, truant, thresher, tyro, thresh, derma, 41 more

through Latin tornō ‘to turn’

tournament, tourney, 9 more

through Old French torner

detour, tourniquet, 3 more

Another origin of turn

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-‘to rub, bore, twist’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*tórh₁nosreconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτόρνοςtórnos‘a lathe’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtornus‘a turner's wheel, lathe’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400*tornreconstructed
  6. Englishtodayturn

Today it means

verb To move about an axis through itself.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- / turn

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