Etymology

gild

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Today it means: To cover with a thin layer of gold; to cover with gold leaf. Full definition →

Middle English gilden ← Old English gyldan ← Proto-West Germanic *gulþijan
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*gulþą“gold”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*gulþijaną
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*gulþijan
  4. Old English · inherited fromgyldan“to gild, to cover with a thin layer of gold”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromgilden
  6. English todaygild

From Middle English gilden, gulden, from Old English gyldan (“to gild, to cover with a thin layer of gold”), from Proto-West Germanic *gulþijan, from Proto-Germanic *gulþijaną, from Proto-Germanic *gulþą (“gold”).

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishgilden all →

gildergilden

Proto-Germanic*gulþą all →

gold

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.