morn
/mɔːrn/
noun
Origin
Proto-Germanic
*murgana- — morning
Overview
Meaning Now
- The early part of the day; morning.
- The dawn or the first appearing of light.
Literal older meaning
the time of awakening or beginning
Language path
Proto-Indo-European → Proto-Germanic → Old English → Middle English → English
Earliest form
morgen
Earliest period
Old English period
Journey
The term 'morn' is a poetic or archaic shortening of 'morning'. While 'morning' evolved from 'morn-ing' (the act of the morning), 'morn' preserves the older root form closer to the Germanic original.
Evolution
- Proto-Germanic
*murgana-
“morning”
Reconstructed root
- Old English
morgen
“morning, dawn”
Direct descendant of the Germanic root
- Middle English
morwen
“morning”
Loss of the final -en inflectional suffix
- Early Modern English
morn
“morning”
Poetic shortening of morning
Connections
Word parts
morn
root
morning
Related across languages
German
Morgen
morning
Dutch
morgen
morning
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Related to morn
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.