Where does “cornfield” come from?
Cornfield comes from Middle English corn and feld, from Old French corn and Old French feld, from Latin cornu meaning horn or projecting part, and Latin feld, tracing to Proto-Indo-European pelh₂- meaning to fold or bend.
cornfield (English): A field of corn, wheat or other cereal crop
Definitions
- A field of corn, wheat or other cereal crop
Ancestry of “cornfield”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | corn | The main cereal plant grown for its grain in a... |
| 2 | Middle English | corn | Any plant that bears grain, especially wheat; a... |
| 3 | Old English | corn | corn, a grain or seed; a cornlike pimple, a corn... |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | korn | corn, grain, cereal |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | kurną | corn, grain, cereal |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵr̥h₂nóm | grain |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵr̥h₂nós | matured, grown old |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵerh₂- | to grow old, to mature |