Where does “yesteryear” come from?
Yesteryear comes from Middle English yester- combined with Old English ġēar (year), which derives from Proto-Germanic gistr- and ultimately Proto-Indo-European yeh₁r-, meaning a cycle of seasons or year.
yesteryear (English): Past years; time gone by; yore; Last year
Definitions
- Past years; time gone by; yore; Last year
Ancestry of “yesteryear”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | year | A solar year, the time it takes the Earth to... |
| 2 | Middle English | yeer | year |
| 3 | Old English | ġēar | year |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | jār | year |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | jērą | year; name of the J-rune |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | yeh₁r- | year |