grene (Middle English)
Where does "grene" come from?
The Middle English adjective 'grene' comes from Old English 'grēne'[1], which traces back through Proto-West Germanic '*grōnī'[1] and Proto-Germanic '*grōniz'[1]. Further back, the Germanic terms descend from Pre-Germanic '*groh₁-ni-s' and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European '*gʰreh₁-', meaning 'to grow, become green'[3].
Open questions
- The Pre-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European ancestral forms are reconstructed by linguists and are not directly attested in writing. [3]
Full etymology tree
- grene (Middle English), 'green'
- inherited grene (Old English), 'green'
- inherited *grōnī (Proto-West Germanic), 'green'
- derived *grōniz (Proto-Germanic), 'green'
- inherited *groh₁-ni-s (Pre-Germanic)
- derived *gʰreh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to grow (of plants?)'
- inherited *groh₁-ni-s (Pre-Germanic)
- suffix *-ī (Proto-West Germanic), 'Forms adjectives from verbs and nouns.'
- derived *grōniz (Proto-Germanic), 'green'
- inherited *grōnī (Proto-West Germanic), 'green'
- inherited grene (Old English), 'green'
Ancestors
- grene (Old English)
- *grōnī (Proto-West Germanic)
- *grōniz (Proto-Germanic)
Descendants and derived words
- green (English)
- green (English)
- green (English)
- green (English)
- grene wax (Middle English)
- green (Yola)
Sources
- grene (Middle English) - Wiktionary
- grene (Old English) - Wiktionary
- grōniz (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary
- grōnī (Proto-West Germanic) - Wiktionary
Updated August 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris