The Oldest Words In The English Language

I

黑料网 did the first words sound like? Did cavemen grunt like they do in cartoons and movies? Did they say, “me, man, you, woman”? Weeellllll, humans have been speaking for more than 50,000 years (some estimates say 150,000 years), so we really don’t know what they sounded like. Evidence of written language dates back only 4,000 years.

But if we want a clue as to how the building blocks of language developed, we can take a look at the oldest identified words. And that’s just what researchers at the University of Cambridge did when believed to have been spoken around the Black Sea area. These words gave rise to an extensive language family, Indo-European, which includes everything from Sanskrit to Latin to Russian to Irish to, yes, English.

Researchers found the meaning of these early words hadn’t changed much over thousands of years, showing how truly durable they are. Just think, you could show up to a Paleolithic听barbecue some 15,000 years ago and actually talk to your ancestors!

黑料网’s the first word you’d need to introduce yourself? How about I, the ultimate pronoun? This first-person singular personal pronoun develops from the Old English ic and ih. Humans have always needed a way to refer to themselves (as opposed to their mother, brother, husband, child). Self-identity was and always will be important.听It would make sense that some of the most basic, nuts-and-bolt words are very 辞濒诲.听

Read on to learn which other English words link back to the oldest words we know.

we

We is the first-person plural personal pronoun, so of course it ‘s one of our oldest English words. We is used to denote oneself and another, or multiple others. Because if you have a way to reference yourself (I), then why not find a way to describe the whole gang, as well? We developed from the Old English听飞脓 and is connected to the听Dutch wij and听骋别谤尘补苍 wir.

black

Interestingly enough,听black is another one of the earliest words in our language. Defined as 鈥渓acking hue and brightness; absorbing light without reflecting any of the rays composing it,鈥� this word also describes 鈥渢he absence of color,” which might be a key as to why it’s such an early word. The Old English form of this word was 产濒忙肠. A cousin to black, the听 Old Norse blakkr听meant 鈥渂lack鈥� and听产濒别办听meant 鈥渋nk.鈥�

mother

According to linguistic studies, the words that have the “deepest” roots are those that are most common and frequently used. So it makes sense that a word like 尘辞迟丑别谤听would be one of the oldest English words.听Even a baby needs a way to describe the person who brought them into the world. Mother was 尘艒诲辞谤听in Old English,听尘补迟别谤听in Latin, and 尘岣梩脓谤听in Greek.

Do you know the 100 most common words in English? We have the list right here!

give

Give is one that our mothers do well. And, its presence on this list of oldest English words means that humans learned long ago how to work together, to share, and preserved the word for it. Cooperation was a building block of human society, and it still is. It’s clear that when people don’t work together, tensions arise and little gets accomplished. A lesson to remember from our ancestors, for sure.

Some of these oldest words have such deep roots that they sound similar in many languages, enabling cooperation! Coming from the Old English gefan, give is related to听the Old Norse gefa, the Dutch听geven, the Ger尘补苍听geben, and the Gothic听giban.

man/woman

The words 尘补苍听补苍诲听woman were obviously key foundational words of the English language. Originally, man could refer to a person, regardless of their gender, with the words 飞别谤听specifically referring to “a male” and 飞墨蹿,听“a female.”

Over time, man became the go-to word for, well, a man. And the word woman? It comes from the Old English 飞墨蹿man,听equivalent to听飞墨蹿 (female) and man, which, as we saw, initially meant 听“human being.”

Bonus! While the Old English wer lost out to man, it does survive in werewolf: literally, a “man-wolf.” So, would that make a “woman-wolf” a …听 飞墨蹿wolf?

fire

And, what do men and women build? Fire.听This word’s creation was probably inherent to survival from very early on. No electricity? No problem. Rub two sticks together, and you鈥檝e got light, warmth, and a sense of security. The word developed from the Old English 蹿瘸谤.

ashes

So, if听蹿颈谤别听was one of our first words, it only makes sense that听ashes听was, too. After all, when you’re done with your fire, you need to clean up what’s left. (Is this perhaps our earliest chore?) In Old English, they used the words asce听or听忙蝉肠别. This is related to some words in very ancient languages: the Sanskrit 腻虂蝉补 and the Hittite hassi听(“on the hearth”).

hand

How did people make fire (and clean it up)? With their hands! People long ago identified what was at the end of each arm. This word would be recognized by many of our ancestors: in听Old English it was, wait for it, hand, also sometimes spelled听hond. It’s related to, also wait for it, the Dutch hand and German Hand.

hear

Here comes more body language鈥攖hat is, body parts that are part of our everyday language. And chief among them are words for our senses, like听hearing. The word hear听developed from the Old English 丑脓谤补苍 and 丑墨别谤补苍.

spit

OK, this is a surprise. Spit is, obviously, 鈥渢o eject saliva from the mouth; expectorate鈥� as we define it. True enough, humans have always needed a way to explain how to get that icky taste out of their mouths, but we’d never have guessed this is one of the oldest English words.听Spit is believed to have imitative origins, meaning the word sounds like the very act of spitting.

one, two, three

Now, this one probably isn’t a surprise鈥攖hat counting words are among the earliest recorded words in English.

In Old English, one was 腻苍 (yes, the articles an and a are related), two was 迟飞腻听听(think twin), and three was 迟丑谤脓辞 or 迟丑谤墨辞.听Easy as 腻苍, 迟飞腻, and 迟丑谤脓辞.

flow

We can only surmise why flow was created so early, but a reasonable guess is the centrality of water in our lives. Flow means 鈥渢o move along in a stream, to circulate, to stream, or well forth.鈥� This word, which has Germanic origins, is also related to flood.

old

黑料网 would an old听word list be without the word old? The aging process is a fact of life. And, an old person is a vital member of a community for their wisdom and experience. People have always needed a word to describe the elders whom (we’re guessing) they relied upon for advice. Interestingly, this word developed from the Old English eald and ald (compare elder and alderman).

this

黑料网 could be more important than the word that can be used to refer to countless things? Just think, if you don’t know the name of an object, you’ll want to听point or gesture to something you want … and say “this,” of course.听This developed from the Old English thes, among other forms.

And among its many roles, this is used to indicate a person, thing, idea, state, event, time, remark, etc., as present, near, just mentioned or pointed out, supposed to be understood, or by way of emphasis. Pretty versatile. Nice work, ancestors!

pull

This word is included due to its relation to building or construction. We’re sure humans have always had to pull a lot of wood, animals, stones, and so on in order to build communities and shelters. And, it’s probably fair to assume that they needed a way to ask for help: “pull this.” Pull comes from the Old English word听pullian (which especially meant “to pluck feathers out of”). But its cousins are the听骋别谤尘补苍 辫奴濒别苍听(“to strip off husks, pick”) and the Old Norse 辫奴濒补听(“to work hard”). Aha … we’re seeing how this language development happened. Pretty cool.