English
weaponless
Weaponless comes from Middle English wepenles ‘Unarmed, weaponless’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *wēpną.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wēpną‘weapon’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wēpnalausaz‘weaponless, unarmed’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150wǣpenlēas
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wepenles‘Unarmed, weaponless’
- Englishearliest quotation 1912weaponless
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wēpną‘weapon’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wēpnalausaz‘weaponless, unarmed’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150wǣpenlēas
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wepenles‘Unarmed, weaponless’
- Englishearliest quotation 1912weaponless
Earliest quotation: 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […]: “Summerlee was weaponless, but I was emptying my magazine…”
Formed from weapon + -less
Proto-Germanic *wēpną
Proto-West Germanic *wāpn
Old English wǣpn
Middle English wepen ‘something adopted as a weapon’
English weapon
Linked words
through Proto-Germanic *wēpną ‘weapon’
Today it means
adj Lacking a weapon.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *wēpną / weaponless