Etymograph

English

waste

Waste comes from Middle English wast, from Old Northern French wast, from Frankish *wōstī ‘a waste’, from Proto-Germanic *wōstaz, from PIE *h₁weh₂- ‘empty’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weh₂-‘empty’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wōstazreconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*wōstī‘a waste’reconstructed
  4. Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400wast
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1886waste

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weh₂-‘empty’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wōstazreconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*wōstī‘a waste’reconstructed
  4. Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400wast
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1886waste

Earliest quotation: 1886, – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson: “We went down accordingly into the waste, and began…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- ‘empty, wasted’

want, various, variety, vacation, vary, variable, void, vast, vacant, vain, vanity, vanish, evacuate, vacate, waning, vacuous, wane, varicella, evanescent, 26 more

through Middle English wast

waist, 2 more

Another origin of waste

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weh₂-‘empty, wasted’reconstructed
  2. Frankishc. 250–700*wōstī‘waste, empty’reconstructed
  3. Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400wast
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  5. Englishtodaywaste

Another origin of waste

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wāsto-‘empty, wasted’uncertain
  2. Frankishc. 250–700*wōstijan‘to waste’uncertain
  3. Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400waster‘to waste, devastate’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wasten‘to waste, lay waste’
  5. Englishtodaywaste

From Middle English wasten (‘to waste, lay waste’), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French waster (‘to waste, devastate’) (compare also the variant gaster and French gâter from a related Old French word); the Anglo-Norman form waster was either from Frankish *wōstijan (‘to waste’), from Proto-Indo-European *wāsto- (‘empty, wasted’), or alternatively from Latin vastāre and influenced by the Frankish; the English word was assisted by similarity to native Middle English westen ("to waste"; > English weest).disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it.

Today it means

noun Excess of material, useless by-products, or damaged, unsaleable products; garbage; rubbish.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- / waste

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