Etymology

midsummer

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Today it means: The period around the summer solstice; around June 21st in the northern hemisphere. Full definition →

Middle English midsomer ← Old English midsumer ← Proto-West Germanic *midisumar
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*midjasumaraz“midsummer”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*midisumar
  3. Old English · inherited frommidsumer
  4. Middle English · inherited frommidsomer
  5. English todaymidsummer

From Middle English midsomer, midsumer, from Old English midsumer, midsumor (“midsummer”), from Proto-West Germanic *midisumar, from Proto-Germanic *midjasumaraz (“midsummer”), equivalent to mid- + summer. Cognate with West Frisian midsimmer (“midsummer”), Dutch midzomer (“midsummer”), German Mittsommer (“midsummer”), Danish midsommer (“midsummer”), Swedish midsommar (“midsummer”), Icelandic miðsumar (“midsummer”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.