Etymograph

English

widow

Widow comes from Middle English widwe ‘a widow or widower’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁widʰéwh₂.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁widʰéwh₂reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*widuwǭreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*widuwāreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150widuwe
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500widwe‘a widow or widower’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1850widow

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁widʰéwh₂reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*widuwǭreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*widuwāreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150widuwe
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500widwe‘a widow or widower’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1850widow

Earliest quotation: 1850, [Alfred, Canto IX: “Sleep, gentle winds, as he sleeps now, My friend,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- ‘to separate, divide’

division, individual, wood, device, wide, divide, devise, divisible, fid, 12 more

Today it means

noun A person whose spouse is absent: A woman whose spouse (traditionally husband) has died (and who has not remarried); a woman in relation to her late spouse; feminine of widower.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₁widʰéwh₂ / widow

Shirt and support for this word