The story
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁es-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁ésmi
- Proto-Germanic*immi
- Proto-West Germanic*im
- Old Englisheom
- Middle Englisham
- English todayam
From Middle English am, em, from Old English eam, eom (“am”), from Proto-West Germanic *im, from Proto-Germanic *immi, *izmi (“am”, form of the verb *wesaną (“to be; dwell”)), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésmi (“to be, to exist”). Cognate with Old Norse em (Old Swedish æm (“am”)), Gothic 𐌹𐌼 (im, “am”), Ancient Greek εἰμῐ́ (eimĭ́, “am”), Old Armenian եմ (em, “am”), Albanian jam (“am”).
Words from the same roots
Old Englisheam all →
eameamesemeYemm
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.