Etymograph

English

wade

Wade comes from Middle English waden ‘to wade through a fluid’, from Old English wadan ‘to go, to advance, to travel’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂dʰ- ‘to go’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weh₂dʰ-‘to go’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wadaną‘to go, pass through’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wadan‘to wade’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wadan‘to go, to advance, to travel’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500waden‘to wade through a fluid’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1667wade

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weh₂dʰ-‘to go’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wadaną‘to go, pass through’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wadan‘to wade’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wadan‘to go, to advance, to travel’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500waden‘to wade through a fluid’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1667wade

Earliest quotation: 1667, John Milton, Book II: “So eagerly the fiend […] / With head, hands,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weh₂dʰ- ‘to go’

invasion, invasive, evasion, invade, evade, waddle, 1 more

Today it means

verb To walk through water or something that impedes progress.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *weh₂dʰ- / wade

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