Today we’re going to learn to earn. Or, more accurately, learn about earn.
There’s no particular date when
earn showed up in English. It’s just known to have come from the Old English earnian (same meaning). Before that, earn was aznojan in Proto Germanic, a variation of azna, labor. That azna can be traced
back to the Proto Indo European aznon, which meant to serve or to do
harvest work. Since work is how people earn a living, it
See you on Monday!
Sources
Tony Jebson’s page on the
Origins of Old English
University of Texas at Austin
Linguistic Research Center
Proto Germanic, Proto Indo European not as familiar to me as Old English is. Appreciate the lesson l-earn-ed!
ReplyDeleteThat's such a difference from proto-German!
ReplyDeleteAnalyzing the theme of your challenge. Now that's hardcore! :)
ReplyDeleteThe proto Germanic and proto Indo European are definitely far different from the Old English. I didn't know about that. Thanks for the educational post. I really love reading these.
ReplyDeleteMore not-Latin!
ReplyDeleteEarn always brings to mind labor.
ReplyDeleteThat's really interesting.
ReplyDeleteBut I bet etymology is a longer post, right? You can always do it next month.
ReplyDeleteI actually know something cool related to this subject! It's about the expression "to earn one's salt." Salt was such a precious commodity during the days of the Roman Empire that soldiers were sometimes paid with it instead of with money.
ReplyDeleteIt's really interesting to learn the history behind words.
ReplyDelete~ Kim