English

unwritten

Unwritten comes from Old English wrītan ‘written’, from Proto-West Germanic *wrītan ‘to scratch, carve’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wrītaną.

Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wrītaną‘to scratch, carve’reconstructed
Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wrītan‘to scratch, carve’reconstructed
Old Englishc. 450–1150wrītanas writen‘written’
Old English, derivedc. 450–1150unwriten
Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
Englishearliest quotation 1987unwritten

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wrītaną‘to scratch, carve’reconstructed
Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wrītan‘to scratch, carve’reconstructed
Old Englishc. 450–1150wrītanas writen‘written’
Old English, derivedc. 450–1150unwriten
Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
Englishearliest quotation 1987unwritten

Earliest quotation: 1987, Galen Rowell, Baltistan: The 20th Century Comes to Shangri-la: “Our language is unwritten and our history and our…”

Formed from un- + written

Proto-Indo-European *n̥- ‘not, un-’

Proto-Germanic *un- ‘not, un-’

Proto-West Germanic *un- ‘not, un-’

English un-

Linked words

through Proto-West Germanic *wrītan ‘to scratch, carve’

writer, underwrite, 3 more

through Old English wrītan ‘written’

writing, write, 4 more

Today it means

adj Not written.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *wrītaną / unwritten

Shirt and support for this word