Etymograph

English

walnut

Walnut comes from Middle English walnote ‘a walnut tree’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *walhahnuts.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*walhahnuts1‘walnut’literally ‘foreigner-nut’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150wealhhnutu1literally ‘foreign nut’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500walnote1‘a walnut tree’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1851walnut1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English walnut
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick.: “A long-skirted, cabalistically-cut coat of a faded walnut tinge…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*walhahnutsWiktionary, English walnut‘walnut’literally ‘foreigner-nut’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150wealhhnutuWiktionary, English walnutliterally ‘foreign nut’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500walnoteWiktionary, English walnut‘a walnut tree’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1851walnutWiktionary, English walnut. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick.: “A long-skirted, cabalistically-cut coat of a faded walnut tinge…”

Linked words

pairs

  • walnut and Welsh both from Proto-Germanic *walhaz ‘foreigner’

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *walhahnuts

Today it means

noun A hardwood tree of the genus Juglans.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “walnut”. 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-Germanic *walhahnuts / walnut

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