yearning

yearning · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*gʰer-“to yearn for”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*girnijaną
3. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*girnijan
4. Old English · inherited fromġierning
5. Middle English · inherited fromyerning
6. English todayyearning

From Middle English yerning, from Old English ġierning, ġierninge. Equivalent to the gerund (yearn + -ing). yearn comes from Proto-West Germanic *girnijan, from Proto-Germanic *girnijaną, from *gernaz (“eager, willing”) + *-janą, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to yearn for”). By surface analysis, yearn + -ing.

yearning · noun²

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*h₃r̥-néw-ti
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*rinnaną
3. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*ḱóm“with, by”
4. Proto-Germanic · derived from*ga-
5. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*ga-
6. Old English · inherited fromrynning
7. Middle English · inherited fromyernyng
8. English todayyearning

PIE word *ḱóm From earlier yerning, from Middle English yernyng, erning, renning. From Old English rynning and gerunnen, geurnen (“run together, coagulated, curdled”), past participles of gerinnan, geirnan, respectively. Influenced by Middle English yern (“to (cause to) coagulate or curdle”), Old English iernan (“to run, flow”), metathesized forms derived from the same origin. From verbal prefix ge- + rinnan (“to run”). First element is from Proto-West Germanic *ga-, from Proto-Germanic *ga-, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“with, by”); second element is from Proto-Germanic *rinnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃r̥-néw-ti, from *h₃er- (“to move”). Doublet of rennet, run.

Words from the same roots