English
arms
Arms comes from Old French armes, from Latin arma ‘weapons’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- ‘to fit together’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂er-1‘to fit together’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂er-mo-1reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEarma1‘weapons’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400armes1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500armes1
- Englishearliest quotation 1950arms1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English arms
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1950, Michael Robbins, Heraldry of London Underground Railways: “The Metropolitan Electric trams bore the three seaxes of…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂er-Wiktionary, English arms‘to fit together’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂er-mo-Wiktionary, English armsreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEarmaWiktionary, English arms‘weapons’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400armesWiktionary, English arms
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500armesWiktionary, English arms
- Englishearliest quotation 1950armsWiktionary, English arms. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1950, Michael Robbins, Heraldry of London Underground Railways: “The Metropolitan Electric trams bore the three seaxes of…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with arms, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Middle English armes
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Today it means
noun Weaponry, weapons.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “arms”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- / arms