Etymograph

English

wort

Wort comes from Middle English wort ‘any herb or plant’, from Proto-West Germanic *wurti ‘a root’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wréh₂ds‘a root’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wrōts‘a root’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wurti‘a root’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wyrt‘a plant’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wort‘any herb or plant’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1531same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wréh₂ds‘a root’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wrōts‘a root’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*wurti‘a root’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150wyrt‘a plant’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wort‘any herb or plant’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1531same form

Earliest quotation: 1531, Thomas Elyot, Of Sobrietie in Diete: “[T]he people of his citye, […] shulde be norysshed…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds ‘a root’

race, radical, eradicate, eradication, radish, rance, radix, ramus, 27 more

through Proto-Germanic *wrōts ‘a root’

root, rote

Another origin of wort

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150wurt‘wort in brewing’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wort‘a plant’
  3. Englishtodaysame form

From Middle English wort, worte (‘infusion of grain (probably malted barley) for brewing ale or beer; unfermented or incompletely fermented beer; infusion of honey and water for making mead; unfermented decoction or infusion of other substances used for food or medicine’) [and other forms], from Old English wurt, wyrt, wyrte (‘wort in brewing’), from a merger of Proto-West Germanic *wurtiju (‘wort in brewing; seasoning, spice’) and *wurti (‘root; spice’), both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wrōts (‘a root’): see further at etymology 1.

Today it means

noun Now chiefly as the second element in the names of plants: a plant used for food or medicine.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds / wort

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