Etymograph

English

mood

Mood comes from Old English mōd ‘mind’, from Proto-Germanic *mōdaz ‘sense, courage, zeal, anger’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *moh₁- ‘endeavour, will, temper’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*moh₁-1‘endeavour’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mōdaz1‘sense’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mōd1‘mind’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150mōd1‘mind’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mood1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1842mood1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English mood
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1842, Alfred Tennyson, The Palace of Art: “Nor these alone, but every landscape fair, / As…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*moh₁-Wiktionary, English mood‘endeavour’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mōdazWiktionary, English mood‘sense’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mōdWiktionary, English mood‘mind’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150mōdWiktionary, English mood‘mind’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500moodWiktionary, English mood
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1842moodWiktionary, English mood. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1842, Alfred Tennyson, The Palace of Art: “Nor these alone, but every landscape fair, / As…”

Explore everything descended from *moh₁- →

Another origin of mood

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*med-‘to measure’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mod-ós‘measure’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*modosreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmodus‘measure’
  5. Englishtodaymood

Alteration of mode, from Latin modus, with specialized uses in grammar, music and logic.

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Today it means

noun A mental or emotional state, composure.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “mood”. 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 *moh₁- / mood