English
worth
Worth comes from Old English weorþ ‘worth, deserving’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *werþaz.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*werþaz‘worthy’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*werþreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150weorþ‘worth’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500worth
- Englishearliest quotation 1593worth
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*werþaz‘worthy’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*werþreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150weorþ‘worth’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500worth
- Englishearliest quotation 1593worth
Earliest quotation: 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […]: “VVhat bee they men of any worth or no?…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *wert- ‘to turn, to rotate, spin’
university, version, weird, conversation, universe, word, ridiculous, diversity, versus, diverse, verse, divorce, vertical, advertisement, versatile, adversity, convertible, ridicule, diversification, advert, divert, revert, pervert, vertex, vortex, vertigo, avert, derision, vertebrate, verso, introvert, subvert, vert, deride, derisive, perversity, wurst, 70 more
Today it means
adj Having a value of; proper to be exchanged for.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *werþaz / worth