Etymograph

English

bequeath

Bequeath comes from Middle English biquethen ‘to bequeath’, from Old English cweþan ‘to speak’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷet-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷet-1‘to say, speak’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kweþaną2‘to say’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kweþan2‘to say, speak’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cweþan3‘to speak’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150becweþan4‘to say, to speak, to address, exhort, admonish, blame, bequeath, leave by will’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500biquethen4‘to bequeath’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1964bequeath4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *kweþaną
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English cweþan
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Old English becweþan
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English bequeath
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1964, News and Comment: Minister hamstrings BR workshops: “Ownership of manufacturing workshops is not essential to that…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷet-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *kweþaną‘to say, speak’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kweþanąWiktionary, Old English cweþan‘to say’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kweþanWiktionary, Old English cweþan‘to say, speak’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cweþanWiktionary, Old English becweþan‘to speak’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150becweþanWiktionary, English bequeath‘to say, to speak, to address, exhort, admonish, blame, bequeath, leave by will’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500biquethenWiktionary, English bequeath‘to bequeath’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1964bequeathWiktionary, English bequeath. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1964, News and Comment: Minister hamstrings BR workshops: “Ownership of manufacturing workshops is not essential to that…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʷet- ‘to say, speak’

pudding, bowel, quid, bitumen, botulism, cud, botulinum, quoth, 14 more

Today it means

verb To give or leave by will; to give by testament.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bequeath”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *kweþaną, Old English cweþan, Old English becweþan. 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 *gʷet- / bequeath

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