Etymograph

English

turn

Turn comes from Middle English turnen, from Old English turnian ‘to turn, rotate’, from Latin tornāre ‘to turn in a lathe’, from tornus ‘lathe’, from Ancient Greek τόρνος ‘turning-lathe’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-1‘to rub, rub by turning, turn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tórh₁nos1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*tórnos1reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτόρνος1tórnos‘turning-lathe’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtornus1‘lathe’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtornō1‘to round off, turn in a lathe’
  7. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*turnēn1‘to turn, lathe’reconstructed
  8. Old Englishc. 450–1150turnian1‘to turn, rotate’
  9. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500turnen1‘to turn’
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1526turn1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English turn
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “And they made a calfe in thoſe dayes /…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-Wiktionary, English turn‘to rub, rub by turning, turn’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tórh₁nosWiktionary, English turnreconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*tórnosWiktionary, English turnreconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτόρνοςWiktionary, English turntórnos‘turning-lathe’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtornusWiktionary, English turn‘lathe’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtornōWiktionary, English turn‘to round off, turn in a lathe’
  7. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*turnēnWiktionary, English turn‘to turn, lathe’reconstructed
  8. Old Englishc. 450–1150turnianWiktionary, English turn‘to turn, rotate’
  9. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500turnenWiktionary, English turn‘to turn’
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1526turnWiktionary, English turn. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “And they made a calfe in thoſe dayes /…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- ‘to rub, rub by turning, turn, twist, bore’

throw, thread, tragic, threshold, trout, detrimental, tyrone, detriment, attrition, thrash, triage, trite, termite, tribulation, detritus, truant, thresher, tyro, thresh, derma, 40 more

through Latin tornō ‘to turn’

tournament, tourney, 8 more

through Old French torner

detour, tourniquet, 3 more

Another origin of turn

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-‘to rub, bore, twist’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tórh₁nosreconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτόρνοςtórnos‘a lathe’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtornus‘a turner's wheel, lathe’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400*tornreconstructed
  6. Englishtodayturn

Today it means

verb To move about an axis through itself.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “turn”. 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 *terh₁- / turn

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