Etymology

morgen

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Today it means: A unit of measurement of land in the Netherlands and the Dutch colonies and parts of the United States, where it was equivalent to about two acres; and in Denmark, Norway, and Germany, where it was equivalent to about two-thirds of an acre. Now used informally in Germany to mean one quarter of a hectare. Full definition →

First used 17th c.Dutch morgen ← German Morgen
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morgen · noun1

  1. German · borrowed fromMorgen
  2. Dutch · borrowed frommorgen
  3. English todaymorgen

From Dutch morgen and German Morgen, both literally "morning", probably originally indicated the amount of land that can be ploughed by a team of oxen in a morning. Doublet of morn and morrow.

Morgen · proper noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*merkʷ-
  2. Proto-Germanic*murginaz
  3. Proto-West Germanic*morgin
  4. Old High Germanmorgan
  5. Middle High Germanmorgen
  6. GermanMorgen
  7. English todayMorgen

Borrowed from German Morgen.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 17th c. A unit of measurement of land in the Netherlands and the Dutch colonies and parts of the United States, where it was equivalent to about two acres; and in Denmark, Norway, and Germany, where it was equivalent to about two-thirds of an acre. Now used informally in Germany to mean one quarter of a hectare.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.