Where does “evening” come from?
evening (Middle English) comes from Old English ǣfnung, from Old English ǣfnian, from Old English ǣfen, from Proto-West Germanic ābanþ, from Proto-Germanic ēbanþs, from Proto-Indo-European h₁epi, from Proto-Indo-European h₁eps.
Ancestry of “evening”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Old English | ǣfnung | — |
| 2 | Old English | ǣfnian | — |
| 3 | Old English | ǣfen | evening |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | ābanþ | evening |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | ēbanþs | evening |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁epi | on, at, near |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁eps | — |
Words derived from “evening”