Etymograph

English

yoke

Yoke comes from Old English ġeoc ‘yoke’, from Proto-Germanic *juką ‘yoke’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *yewg- ‘to join, yoke’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*yewg-‘to join, yoke’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*yugóm‘yoke’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*juką‘yoke’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*jukreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150ġeoc‘yoke’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500iuc
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1526yoke

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*yewg-‘to join, yoke’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*yugóm‘yoke’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*juką‘yoke’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*jukreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150ġeoc‘yoke’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500iuc
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1526yoke

Earliest quotation: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “I have bought fyve yooke of oxẽ [oxen]⸝ ãd…”

The story

Senses 3.1 (‘area of arable land’) and 3.2 (‘amount of work done with draught animals’) probably referred to the area of land that could generally be ploughed by yoked draught animals within a given time.

Linked words

pairs

  • yoke and yoga both from Proto-Indo-European *yewg- ‘to join, yoke’

through Proto-Indo-European *yewg- ‘to join, yoke’

join, junction, adjunct, jodi, juncture, jugular, subjugate, yojana, 42 more

through Proto-Indo-European *yugóm

conjugate, yogi, conjugation, zygote, yuga, 12 more

Another origin of yoke

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*yewg-‘to yoke, harness, join’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*yugómreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*jukąreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*jukreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150ġeoc
  6. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150ġeocian‘to yoke’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500yoken‘to yoke’
  8. Englishtodayyoke

Today it means

noun A bar or frame by which two oxen or other draught animals are joined at their necks enabling them to pull a cart, plough, etc.; two draught animals connected by such a yoke; (by extension) a device attached to a single draught animal for the same purpose.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *yewg- / yoke

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