Etymograph

English

band

Band (group) comes from Middle English band, from Old French bande, from Old Occitan banda ‘troop’, perhaps from Frankish *bend.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰendʰ-1‘to tie; bond’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bandiz1reconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*bend1uncertain
  4. Old Occitanc. 950–1500banda1‘regiment of troops’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400bande1
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500band1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1595band1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English band
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1595, The Life and Death of King Richard the Second: “OLd Iohn of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaſter, Haſt thou according…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰendʰ-Wiktionary, English band‘to tie; bond’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bandizWiktionary, English bandreconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*bendWiktionary, English banduncertain
  4. Old Occitanc. 950–1500bandaWiktionary, English band‘regiment of troops’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400bandeWiktionary, English band
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bandWiktionary, English band
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1595bandWiktionary, English band. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1595, The Life and Death of King Richard the Second: “OLd Iohn of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaſter, Haſt thou according…”

The story

Middle English band reinforced by Old French bande.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- ‘to tie, bind’

bond, bend, bundle, bind, bonnet, tulip, bund, funicular, 22 more

through Proto-Germanic *bandiz

banner, 1 more

Another origin of band

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰendʰ-‘to tie’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bandizuncertain
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150bend‘bond, coil’next step skipped: Old French bande
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500band‘a chain or other object used to restrain a captive’
  5. Englishtodayband

Derived from Middle English band, from Old French bande, from Old Occitan banda (‘regiment of troops’), perhaps from Frankish *bend, from Proto-Germanic *bandiz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (‘to tie; bond, band’).

Today it means

noun A strip of material wrapped around things to hold them together.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “band”. 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 *bʰendʰ- / band

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