Etymology

glass

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Today it means: An amorphous solid, often transparent substance, usually made by melting silica sand with various additives (for most purposes, a mixture of soda, potash and lime is added). Full definition →

Middle English glas ← Old English glæs ← Proto-West Germanic *glas
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glass · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*glasą
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*glas
  3. Old English · inherited fromglæs
  4. Middle English · inherited fromglas
  5. English todayglass

From Middle English glas, from Old English glæs, from Proto-West Germanic *glas, from Proto-Germanic *glasą, possibly related to Proto-Germanic *glōaną (“to shine”) (compare glow), and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰleh₁- (“to shine, shimmer, glow”). Cognate with West Frisian glês, Low German and German Glas, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish glas, Norwegian Bokmål glass, Icelandic gler.

Glass · proper noun2

  1. French · derived fromglas“bell, tumult, clash of arms”
  2. English todayGlass

* As an English, Jewish and German surname, from the noun glass. * Also as an English surname, from a nickname derived from French glas (“bell, tumult, clash of arms”). * As a Celtic surname (Irish, Welsh, Cornish, and Scottish Gaelic), Anglicized from the adjective glas (“grey”). * Also as a German surname, altered from the personal name Klass, shortened from Nikolaus, compare Nicholas. * As a Slovene surname, Americanized and Germanized from Glas.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishglæs all →

Glasscock

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.