Where does “gooseweed” come from?

gooseweed (English) comes from English goose, from Middle English goos, from Old English gōs, from Proto-Germanic gans, from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰans-.

gooseweed (English): The flowering plant Sphenoclea zeylanica

Definitions

  1. The flowering plant Sphenoclea zeylanica

Ancestry of “gooseweed”, step by step

gooseweed traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English goose

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishgooseAny of various grazing waterfowl of the family...
2Middle Englishgoosgoose; The meat or corpse of a goose; a dead...
3Old Englishgōsgoose
4Proto-Germanicgansgoose
5Proto-Indo-Europeanǵʰans-—

via English weed

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishweedAny plant regarded as unwanted at the place...
2Middle Englishweed—
3Old Englishwēodweed
4Proto-West Germanic*weudweed (unwanted plant)
Every word from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰans- →Every word from Proto-Germanic gans →Every word from Old English gōs →