Etymograph

English

gage

Gage comes from Proto-Germanic *wadją ‘wager, stake, pledge’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *wedʰ- ‘to bind’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wedʰ-1‘to bind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wodʰ-yo-m1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wadją2‘wager, stake, pledge’reconstructed
  4. Frankishc. 250–700*waddi2reconstructed
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600gager2
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gage2
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598gage2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *wadją
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English gage
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “Great debts / Wherein my time, sometimes too prodigal,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wedʰ-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *wadją‘to bind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wodʰ-yo-mWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *wadjąreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*wadjąWiktionary, English gage‘wager, stake, pledge’reconstructed
  4. Frankishc. 250–700*waddiWiktionary, English gagereconstructed
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600gagerWiktionary, English gage
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gageWiktionary, English gage
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598gageWiktionary, English gage. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “Great debts / Wherein my time, sometimes too prodigal,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wedʰ- ‘to bind’

weed, bahu, 7 more

through Proto-Germanic *wadją ‘wager, stake, pledge’

wedding, wed, engagement, wage, wedlock, 2 more

Today it means

verb To bind (someone) by pledge or security; to engage.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “gage”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Germanic *wadją. 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 *wedʰ- / gage

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