Etymograph

English

cornet

Cornet comes from Latin cornū ‘horn’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱerh₂-1‘horn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱorh₂u1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kornū2‘horn’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcornū3‘horn’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400cornet3
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cornet3‘a cornet’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1702–1704cornet3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Italic *kornū
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin cornu
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English cornet
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, Begun in the Year 1641. […]: “They discerned a body of five cornets of horse…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱerh₂-Wiktionary, Proto-Italic *kornū‘horn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱorh₂uWiktionary, Proto-Italic *kornūreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kornūWiktionary, Latin cornu‘horn’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcornūWiktionary, English cornet‘horn’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400cornetWiktionary, English cornet
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cornetWiktionary, English cornet‘a cornet’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1702–1704cornetWiktionary, English cornet. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, Begun in the Year 1641. […]: “They discerned a body of five cornets of horse…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- ‘horn’

cheer, hart, cerebral, crater, horn, grail, migraine, carotid, procrastinate, cerebellum, cranium, cairn, keratin, cerebrum, rother, 52 more

through Latin cornū ‘horn’

corny, 23 more

Another origin of cornet

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱerh₂-‘horn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱorh₂ureconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kornū‘horn’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcornū̆as cornua‘horns’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600cornette
  6. Englishtodaycornet

Today it means

noun A musical instrument of the brass family, slightly smaller than a trumpet, usually in the musical key of B-flat.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cornet”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Italic *kornū, Latin cornu. 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 *ḱerh₂- / cornet

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