Etymograph

English

morgen

Morgen comes from Old Dutch morgan, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mr̥Hko ‘to blink, twinkle’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mr̥Hko1‘to blink, twinkle’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*murganaz1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*morgin1reconstructed
  4. Old Dutchc. 500–1150morgan1
  5. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500morgen1
  6. Dutchc. 1500–presentmorgen2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1969morgen2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Dutch morgen
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English morgen
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1969, Doris Lessing, The Four-Gated City: “‘All my life spent hating a poor little tyrant…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mr̥HkoWiktionary, Dutch morgen‘to blink, twinkle’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*murganazWiktionary, Dutch morgenreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*morginWiktionary, Dutch morgenreconstructed
  4. Old Dutchc. 500–1150morganWiktionary, Dutch morgen
  5. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500morgenWiktionary, Dutch morgen
  6. Dutchc. 1500–presentmorgenWiktionary, English morgen
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1969morgenWiktionary, English morgen. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1969, Doris Lessing, The Four-Gated City: “‘All my life spent hating a poor little tyrant…”

The story

From Dutch morgen and German Morgen, both literally "morning", probably originally indicated the amount of land that can be ploughed by a team of oxen in a morning.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *murganaz

tomorrow, morn

Today it means

noun A unit of measurement of land in the Netherlands and the Dutch colonies and parts of the United States, where it was equivalent to about two acres; and in Denmark, Norway, and Germany, where it was equivalent to about two-thirds of an acre. Now used informally in Germany to mean one quarter of a hectare.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “morgen”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Dutch morgen. 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 *mr̥Hko / morgen

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