Etymology

homestead

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Today it means: A house together with surrounding land and buildings, especially on a farm; the property comprising these. Full definition →

First used 1872Middle English hamstede ← Old English hāmstede ← Proto-West Germanic *haimastadi
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*haimastadi“homestead”
  2. Old English · inherited fromhāmstede“homestead”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromhamstede
  4. English todayhomestead

From Middle English hamstede, hemstede (attested in placenames), from Old English hāmstede (“homestead”), from Proto-West Germanic *haimastadi (“homestead”). By surface analysis, home + stead. Cognate with Old Frisian hāmstede, hēmstede (“homestead”), Dutch heemstede (“homestead”), German Heimstatt, Heimstätte (“homestead”), Swedish hemstad (“homestead”), Old Icelandic heimstǫð (“homestead”). Doublet of Hampstead and Hempstead.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 1872 To acquire or settle on land as a homestead.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.