Etymograph

English

merry

Merry comes from Old English myrġe ‘pleasing, agreeable’, from Proto-West Germanic *murgī ‘short, slow, leisurely’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mreǵʰ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mreǵʰ-1‘short’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mréǵʰus2‘short’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*murguz2‘short, slow’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*murgī2‘short, slow, leisurely’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150myrġe2‘pleasing, agreeable’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500myrie2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590merry2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English merry
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto XII: “There eke my feeble barke a while may ſtay,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mreǵʰ-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus‘short’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mréǵʰusWiktionary, English merry‘short’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*murguzWiktionary, English merry‘short, slow’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*murgīWiktionary, English merry‘short, slow, leisurely’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150myrġeWiktionary, English merry‘pleasing, agreeable’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500myrieWiktionary, English merry
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590merryWiktionary, English merry. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto XII: “There eke my feeble barke a while may ſtay,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *mreǵʰ- ‘short’

briefly, embrace, bracelet, brassard, 32 more

through Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus ‘short’

brief, brass, bra, brace, pretzel, brevity, brachial, abbreviate, 33 more

Another origin of merry

  1. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600aymeras amer‘sour, bitter’
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600*amerisereconstructed
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentmerise‘wild cherry (fruit)’
  4. Englishtodaymerry

Today it means

adj Jolly and full of high spirits; happy.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “merry”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus. 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 *mreǵʰ- / merry

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