English
noon
Noon comes from Old English nōn ‘the ninth hour’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥ ‘nine’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁néwn̥1‘nine’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁newn̥(n)ós1reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*nowenos1‘ninth’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnōnus2‘ninth’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnōna2‘ninth hour’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150nōn2‘the ninth hour’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500noen2
- Englishearliest quotation 1789noon2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin nonus
- 2 Wiktionary, English noon
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants: “So the sad mother at the noon of night…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁néwn̥Wiktionary, Latin nonus‘nine’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁newn̥(n)ósWiktionary, Latin nonusreconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*nowenosWiktionary, Latin nonus‘ninth’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnōnusWiktionary, English noon‘ninth’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnōnaWiktionary, English noon‘ninth hour’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150nōnWiktionary, English noon‘the ninth hour’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500noenWiktionary, English noon
- Englishearliest quotation 1789noonWiktionary, English noon. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants: “So the sad mother at the noon of night…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥ ‘nine’
through Latin nōna ‘ninth hour’
Today it means
noun The time of day when the Sun seems to reach its highest point in the sky; solar noon.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “noon”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin nonus. 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 *h₁néwn̥ / noon