Etymograph

English

welshnut

Welshnut comes from Old English wealhhnutu ‘walnut’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *walhahnuts.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*walhahnuts1‘walnut (Juglans)’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150wealhhnutu2‘walnut’literally ‘Welsh-nut’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500walsh-note2
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1879welshnut2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English wealhhnutu
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English welshnut
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1879, William Barnes, The Welshnut Tree: “[…] Our tongues do run, O, / Enough to…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*walhahnutsWiktionary, Old English wealhhnutu‘walnut (Juglans)’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150wealhhnutuWiktionary, English welshnut‘walnut’literally ‘Welsh-nut’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500walsh-noteWiktionary, English welshnut
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1879welshnutWiktionary, English welshnut. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1879, William Barnes, The Welshnut Tree: “[…] Our tongues do run, O, / Enough to…”

Formed from Welsh + nut

Proto-Germanic *walhaz ‘Celt’

Proto-Germanic *walhiskaz ‘Celt’

Proto-West Germanic *walhisk ‘foreign’

Old English wǣlisċ ‘Briton’

Middle English Walsch

English Welsh

Proto-Italic *knuks

…

Proto-Germanic *hnuts

Proto-West Germanic *hnut

Old English hnutu

Middle English note

English nut

Linked words

through Old English wealhhnutu ‘walnut’

walnut

Today it means

noun A walnut (nut or tree).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “welshnut”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English wealhhnutu. 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 / welshnut

Shirt and support for this word