Where does “eyeglasses” come from?
Eyeglasses combines English eye from Old English eġe (meaning "organ of sight"), traced to Proto-Germanic augô and Proto-Indo-European h₃ekʷ-, with English glass.
eyeglasses (English): Spectacles, glasses; plural of eyeglass
Definitions
- Spectacles, glasses; plural of eyeglass
Ancestry of “eyeglasses”, step by step
eyeglasses traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English glasses
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | glasses | plural of glass; API pl; Spectacles, frames... |
| 2 | English | glass | An amorphous solid, often transparent substance... |
| 3 | Scottish Gaelic | glas | green; grey; lock |
| 4 | Middle Irish | glas | — |
| 5 | Old Irish | glas | green, greenish; blue, green-blue, grey-blue; the... |
| 6 | Proto-Celtic | glastos | green, blue |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵʰl̥h₃stós | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵʰelh₃- | to flourish; green, yellow |
via English Eye
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Eye | A place name |
| 2 | English | -some | Characterized by some specific condition or... |
| 3 | Middle English | -som | some; having a specific quality |
| 4 | Old English | sum | some |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | *sum | some |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | sumaz | some (one), a certain (one) |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | sem- | together, one |