Etymograph

English

thane

Thane comes from Proto-West Germanic *þegn ‘man, warrior’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- ‘to give birth’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teḱ-1‘to give birth’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þegnaz1‘man, warrior’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þegn1‘man, warrior’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150þæġn1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500theyn1
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1606thane1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English thane
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Macbeth: “Sonnes, Kinsmen, Thanes, / And you whose places are…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teḱ-Wiktionary, English thane‘to give birth’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*þegnazWiktionary, English thane‘man, warrior’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*þegnWiktionary, English thane‘man, warrior’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150þæġnWiktionary, English thane
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500theynWiktionary, English thane
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1606thaneWiktionary, English thane. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Macbeth: “Sonnes, Kinsmen, Thanes, / And you whose places are…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- ‘to give birth’

text, tectonic, 9 more

Today it means

noun A rank of nobility in pre-Norman England, roughly equivalent to baron.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “thane”. 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 *teḱ- / thane

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