Etymograph

English

venery

Venery comes from Old French venerie ‘hunting’, from Latin vēnor ‘to hunt’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- ‘to chase, pursue’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyh₁-1‘to chase, pursue’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvēnor2‘to hunt’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400venerie2‘hunting’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600venerie2
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500venerie2‘hunting’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1650venery2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin venor
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English venery
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1650, Thomas Browne, A brief enumeration of Authors: “There are extant of his in Greek, four books…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyh₁-Wiktionary, Latin venor‘to chase, pursue’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvēnorWiktionary, English venery‘to hunt’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400venerieWiktionary, English venery‘hunting’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600venerieWiktionary, English venery
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500venerieWiktionary, English venery‘hunting’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1650veneryWiktionary, English venery. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1650, Thomas Browne, A brief enumeration of Authors: “There are extant of his in Greek, four books…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- ‘to chase, pursue’

previous, obvious, virtual, violent, violation, virtue, inevitable, voyage, violate, trivial, convey, trivia, vis, deviation, vengeance, virtuous, envoy, deviant, vindication, virtuoso, avenge, viaduct, ochre, vim, wer, virile, virility, violator, inviolable, virago, trivium, obviate, 50 more

through Latin vēnor ‘to hunt’

venison, 6 more

Another origin of venery

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wenh₁-‘to wish, love’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wénh₁-os ~ *wénh₁-es-os‘loveliness’reconstructed
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500venus‘love’
  4. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500veneria
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500venery
  6. Englishtodayvenery

Today it means

noun The hunting of wild animals.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “venery”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin venor. 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 *weyh₁- / venery

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