among

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂en-
2. Proto-Germanic*an
3. Proto-West Germanic*ana
4. Old Englishon
5. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
6. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
7. Proto-Germanic*ga-
8. Proto-West Germanic*ga-
9. Old Englishġe-
10. Old Englishmang
11. Old Englishġemang
12. Old Englishonġemang
13. Old Englishamang
14. Middle Englishamong
15. English todayamong

The preposition is derived from Middle English among, amang, amange, amonge (“in the presence of, amid, among; in, within; between; during”), from Old English amang, onġemang (preposition), from on (“on, among, in”) (probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂en- (“on, onto”)) + ġemang (“crowd; mixture”, noun) (from ġe- (prefix forming nouns denoting association or similarity) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“beside, by; near; with”)) + mang- (from mængan, mengan (“to mingle, mix”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *menk- (“to knead; to press”))). By surface analysis, a- (prefix meaning ‘at; in; on’) + mong (“crowd, throng; group”). The adverb is derived from Middle English among, amang (“accompanied by, along with, by the side of, in association with, together; all the while, continually; also, besides; at the same time; from time to time, occasionally; meanwhile; within”), from Old English onġemang (adverb): see further above. cognates * Dutch mank, maank (“among”) * German mang (“among”) (dialectal) * German Low German mank, manken (“among”) * Saterland Frisian monk, monken (“among”) * West Frisian mank (“among”)

Words from the same roots