Etymograph

English

watch

Watch comes from Middle English wacchen, from Old English wæċċan, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wakjaną.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wakjanąreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wakkjanreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wæċċan
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wacchen
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604watch

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wakjanąreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wakkjanreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150wæċċan
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wacchen
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604watch

Earliest quotation: c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice: “He upbraids Iago, that he made him Brave me…”

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *wakjaną

Another origin of watch

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*woǵ-éye-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wakjaną‘to wake up, to awaken’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wakkjan‘to wake, awaken’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wæċċan‘to be or stay awake’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wacchen‘to be or stay awake’
  6. Englishtodaywatch

Today it means

noun A portable or wearable timepiece.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *wakjaną / watch

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