English
claim
Claim comes from Middle English claimen, from Old French clamer ‘to call’, from Latin clāmō ‘to call’, from PIE *kelh₁-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kelh₁-1‘to shout’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEclāmō1‘to call’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400clamer1‘to call’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500claimen1
- Englishearliest quotation 1596claim1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English claim
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book IV, Canto X: “Nor all, that else through all the world is…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kelh₁-Wiktionary, English claim‘to shout’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEclāmōWiktionary, English claim‘to call’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400clamerWiktionary, English claim‘to call’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500claimenWiktionary, English claim
- Englishearliest quotation 1596claimWiktionary, English claim. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book IV, Canto X: “Nor all, that else through all the world is…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- ‘to shout’
low, hell, clear, calendar, classic, haul, reconciliation, declare, reconcile, clarity, clarification, claire, classify, squeal, clarinet, irreconcilable, clarion, claret, ecclesiastic, conciliar, ecclesial, clas, 36 more
through Latin clāmō ‘to call, cry out’
proclamation, reclamation, exclamation, clamour, clamor, 10 more
Today it means
noun A demand of ownership made for something.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “claim”. 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 *kelh₁- / claim