zinc

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*h₃ed-
2. Proto-Indo-European*h₃dónts
3. Proto-Germanic*tindaz
4. Old High Germanzint?
5. Old High Germanzinko
6. Middle High Germanzinke
7. GermanZinke?
8. GermanZink
9. English todayzinc

Borrowed from German Zink, related to Zinke (“point, prong”), from Middle High German zinke, from Old High German zinko (“prong, tine”), allied to zint (“a jag, point”), from Proto-Germanic *tindaz (“prong, pinnacle”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts (“tooth, projection”). Cognate with Old English tind (“tine, prong”), Middle Low German tinde, Icelandic tindur (“spike, tooth of a rake or harrow, pinnacle, peak, battlement”). See also Dutch tinne (“battlement”), German Zinne (“pinnacle, battlement”), Danish tinde (“pinnacle, battlement”), Swedish tinne (“tooth of a rake”), More at tine. Doublet of zincum.

Words from the same roots