Etymograph

English

upon

Upon comes from Middle English upon, from Old English uppan ‘on, upon’, a compound of up + on.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150uppan1‘on, upon’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500upon1
  3. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598upon1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English upon
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “No news of them? Why, so: and I know…”.

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150uppanWiktionary, English upon‘on, upon’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500uponWiktionary, English upon
  3. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598uponWiktionary, English upon. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “No news of them? Why, so: and I know…”

A compound of up ‘adverb’ + on ‘preposition’

Proto-Germanic *upp ‘up’

Proto-West Germanic *upp

Old English upp

Middle English up ‘to a vertical axis’

English up

Proto-Indo-European *h₂en- ‘on’

Proto-Germanic *an ‘on’

Proto-West Germanic *ana

Old English on ‘on’

Middle English on ‘on’

English on

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂en- ‘on, onto’

end, along, ana, anterior, asunder, 7 more

through Old English on ‘onto, into’

on, abed, 2 more

Today it means

prep alternative to on in most, though not all, prepositional uses.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “upon”. 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 / Old English uppan / upon

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