Etymograph

English

weather

Weather comes from Middle English weder, from Old English weder, from Proto-Germanic *wedrą, from PIE *wedʰrom, from *h₂weh₁- ‘to blow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂weh₁-‘to blow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*wedʰromreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wedrąreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wedrreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150weder
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘weather’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1596weather

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂weh₁-‘to blow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*wedʰromreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wedrąreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wedrreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150weder
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘weather’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1596weather

Earliest quotation: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book V, Canto IV: “[An eagle] soaring through his wide empire of the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- ‘to blow’

event, wind, van, winter, wing, velocity, athletic, athlete, ventilation, ventilate, 8 more

Today it means

noun The short-term state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place, including the temperature, relative humidity, cloud cover, precipitation, wind, etc.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- / weather