milk

Where does the word "milk" come from? It comes from Proto-Germanic meluks, passing through Old English before entering English (1500s).

Milk’s story begins in Proto-Germanic: meluks meant “milk.” From a root meaning to stroke or rub, as in milking by hand; related to Latin 'mulgēre', to milk. By 700s-1000s, the word had taken hold in Old English as meolc. The Anglo-Saxon name for May was 'Þrimilce', the month of three milkings a day. It reached English by 1500s as milk. 'the Milky Way' translates Latin 'via lactea'. Today, milk means the white liquid produced by mammals to feed their young.

1. Stage 1 · Proto-Germanic · ancient meluks "milk", from a root meaning to stroke or rub, as in milking by hand; related to Latin 'mulgēre', to milk.
2. Stage 2 · Old English · 700s-1000s meolc "milk", the Anglo-Saxon name for May was 'Þrimilce', the month of three milkings a day.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1500s milk "milk", 'the Milky Way' translates Latin 'via lactea'.