Etymograph

English

golden

Golden comes from Middle English golden, a form of gilden restored after gold, from Old English gylden ‘golden’, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *gulþą ‘gold’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gulþą1‘gold’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gulþīnaz2‘golden’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gulþīn3reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150gylden4‘golden’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gilden5as gulden‘formed from gold’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500golden5‘formed from gold’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1749golden5

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *gulþīnaz
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *gulþīn
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Old English gylden
  4. 4 Wiktionary, Middle English gilden
  5. 5 Wiktionary, English golden
  6. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones: “And now the concern which Partridge felt at being…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gulþąWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *gulþīnaz‘gold’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gulþīnazWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *gulþīn‘golden’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gulþīnWiktionary, Old English gyldenreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150gyldenWiktionary, Middle English gilden‘golden’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500gildenWiktionary, English goldenas gulden‘formed from gold’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500goldenWiktionary, English golden‘formed from gold’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1749goldenWiktionary, English golden. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones: “And now the concern which Partridge felt at being…”

Formed from gold + -en

Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- ‘green, yellow’

…

Proto-Germanic *gulþą ‘gold’

Proto-West Germanic *golþ

Old English gold ‘gold’

Middle English gold ‘gold’

English gold

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- ‘yellow’

fell, yellow, chlorine, gall, felon, gullible, cholera, yolk, glib, choline, zloty, chlorella, gilder, 26 more

through Middle English gilden ‘Formed from gold’

gild, 2 more

Today it means

adj Made of, or relating to, gold.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “golden”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *gulþīnaz, Proto-West Germanic *gulþīn, Old English gylden, Middle English gilden. 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-Germanic *gulþą / golden

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