Etymograph

English

loft

Loft comes from Middle English lofte ‘air, sky, upper region, loft’, from Proto-West Germanic *luftu ‘roof’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- ‘to peel, break off, damage’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lewbʰ-1‘to peel, break off, damage’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lubʰ-tu-s1uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*luftuz2‘roof’uncertain
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*luftu2‘roof’uncertain
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lufti2reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150lyft3as loft‘air’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lofte3‘air, sky, upper region, loft’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1542loft3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *luftuz, which cites Kroonen
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English lyft
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English loft
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1542, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey: “A heart, where dread was never so imprest To…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lewbʰ-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *luftuz, which cites Kroonen‘to peel, break off, damage’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lubʰ-tu-sWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *luftuz, which cites Kroonenuncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*luftuzWiktionary, Old English lyft‘roof’uncertain
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*luftuWiktionary, Old English lyft‘roof’uncertain
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*luftiWiktionary, Old English lyftreconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150lyftWiktionary, English loftas loft‘air’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lofteWiktionary, English loft‘air, sky, upper region, loft’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1542loftWiktionary, English loft. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1542, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey: “A heart, where dread was never so imprest To…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- ‘to peel, break off, damage’

believe, love, leave, left, library, belief, leaf, lodge, lobby, libel, 23 more

through Proto-West Germanic *luftu ‘roof’

1 more

through Old English lyft ‘air’

lift

Today it means

noun Air, the air; the sky, the heavens.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “loft”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *luftuz, Old English lyft. 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 *lewbʰ- / loft

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