Where does “woke” come from?
Woke is the past participle of English wake, which derives from Old English wacu, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European weǵ-, a root meaning to be awake or lively.
woke (English): Awake: conscious and not asleep; Alert, aware of...
Definitions
- Awake: conscious and not asleep; Alert, aware of...
Ancestry of “woke”, step by step
woke traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English woken up
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | woken up | past participle of wake up |
| 2 | English | wake up | To awake; To awaken somebody; To become more... |
| 3 | English | wake | To stop sleeping; To make somebody stop sleeping;... |
| 4 | Middle English | wake | Alternative form of woke |
| 5 | Old English | wacu | wake, watch |
| 6 | Old English | ford | ford |
| 7 | Proto-West Germanic | furdu | ford |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | furduz | ford |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | pértus | crossing |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | per- | before, in front; first; to go through |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | pr̥tós | passed , crossed |
via English woken
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | woken | past participle of wake |
| 2 | English | -en | Denotes the past participle form when attached to... |
| 3 | Middle English | -en | Denotes the past participle form when attached to... |
| 4 | Old English | -en | mæġþ + API → mæġden; cocc + API → cycen, cicen;... |
| 5 | Old Norse | -inn | Used to create adjectives from nouns, meaning... |
| 6 | Proto-Norse | -īna- | — |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | -īnaz | -en |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -iHnos | Creates adjectives of materials |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -no- | adjectival suffix |