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Where does the word "girth" come from? It comes from Old Norse gjörth, and was adopted directly into English (1300s).
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Where does the word "girth" come from? It comes from Old Norse gjörth, and was adopted directly into English (1300s).
Girth’s story begins in Old Norse: gjörth meant “a belt, an encircling band.” A belt, a band that encircles something. It reached English by 1300s as girth. Settled as the English word for the measurement around something. Today, girth means the measurement around the middle of something, or a band encircling it.
- Stage 1 · Old Norse · medieval gjörth "a belt, an encircling band", a belt, a band that encircles something.
- Stage 2 · English · 1300s girth "the measurement around something", settled as the English word for the measurement around something.