"G" Word Origins

glisten

Origin

From Middle English glisnen, glistnen, from Old English glisnian, itself from Proto-West Germanic *glisnōn, while ultimately deriving from Proto-Germanic *glisnōną.

glisteny

Origin

From glisten + -y.

glister

Origin

From Middle English glisteren, either borrowed from or related to Middle Low German and/or Middle Dutch glisteren; like a host of other Germanic words in gl- related to shining, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley-.

glitch

German · 1960

Probably from Yiddish, ultimately from a German word for "slippery." It was popularized in the 1960s by the US space program, notably by astronaut John Glenn describing electrical spikes.

glitter

Old Norse

From Old Norse glitra, "to glitter," from a Germanic root shared with words for shining or gleaming.

glitz

German

A back-formation from the adjective glitzy, itself from a German word meaning "to glint" or "to sparkle."

gloam

Origin

Back-formation from gloaming.

gloaming

Origin

From Middle English gloming, from Old English glōmung, from Old English glōm (“twilight”). Related to glow. The OED notes: "The vowel of the modern gloaming is anomalous, as Old English glōmung should normally become glooming. The explanation is probably that the ō was shortened in the compound ǣfen-glommung (as the spelling seems to show was actually the case), and that from this compound there was evolved a new subject glŏmung, which by normal phonetic development became Middle English glǭming, modern English gloaming."

gloat

Old English

From Middle English roots meaning "to grin or stare scornfully," ultimately traced back to an Old Norse or Old English word for staring — the same ancient family that gives us "glow" and "glint."

glob

Origin

Probably a blend of "blob" and "gob," or a shortened form of "globule" — the sound of the word matches its lumpy meaning.

global

French

From "globe" plus the adjective ending "-al," on the model of French global.

globalisation

Origin

From global + -isation or globalise + -ation. Popularized by German-American economist and professor at Harvard Business School Theodore Levitt.

globalization

Origin

Formed from "globalize" plus the noun ending "-ation."

globe

Latin

From Old French globe, from Latin globus, meaning a round mass or ball.

globular

Origin

From French globulaire or Medieval Latin globulāris.

glocester

Origin

Variant of Gloucester. The town was named after Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester.

Glock

Origin · 1929

Named after Gaston Glock (1929-2023), the Austrian engineer who designed the pistol.

glockenspiel

Origin

From German Glockenspiel (literally “bells-set”).

glom

Origin

From Scottish English glom, glaum (“to grab or snatch at”), a variant of clam, claum (“to clutch, seize, grasp, reach for”), from Middle English *clammen, from Old English clæmman (“to pinch, press, inclose”), from Proto-West Germanic *klammjan. Related to clamp.

glomerate

Origin

Borrowed from Latin glomerātus, perfect passive participle of glomero (“to glomerate”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

glomeration

Origin

Latin glomeratio.

glomerular

Origin

From glomerulus + -ar. By surface analysis, glomerul- + -ar.

glomerule

Origin

Diminutive of Latin glomus ball.

glomerulopathy

Origin

From glomerulo- + -pathy.

glomerulus

Origin

From the diminutive of the Latin glomus (gen. glomeris) meaning "ball of yarn" or "ball-shaped mass".

glomp

Origin

An emphatic form of glom.

gloom

Old English

From an Old English word for twilight or darkness, related to a Germanic root meaning "to gleam or shimmer" — the same distant family as "glow."

glooming

Origin

Compare gloaming.

gloomy

Origin

From "gloom" plus the adjective ending "-y."

gloop

Origin

Onomatopoeic; similar to glop or goop.

glop

Origin

1940-45, of expressive origin. Compare goop, gulp.

gloria

Latin

Borrowed directly from Latin gloria, meaning "glory" — the same root as the English word "glory."

Gloriana

Latin · 1590

Coined by the poet Edmund Spenser in his poem "The Faerie Queene" (1590) to represent Elizabeth I, built from Latin gloria ("glory") plus a suffix meaning "pertaining to."

glorification

Origin

From Middle English glorificacion, glorificacioun, from Middle French glorification and its etymon Latin glōrificātiō. By surface analysis, glorify + -ication.

glorify

Late Latin

From Old French glorifier, from Late Latin glorificare, built from Latin gloria ("glory") plus a verb ending meaning "to make."

glorious

Latin

From Old French glorïos, from Latin gloriosus, from gloria ("glory").

gloriously

Middle English

From Middle English gloriously, equivalent to glorious + -ly.

glory

Latin

From Old French glorie, from Latin gloria, meaning fame, honour, or renown.

gloss

Germanic

Possibly from a Scandinavian word for a spark or flame, related to a Germanic root meaning "to glow" — the shiny sense and the "explanatory note" sense may actually come from two different, unrelated old words that merged in English.

glossa

Origin

From the Ancient Greek γλῶσσᾰ (glôssă, “tongue”). Doublet of gloss.

glossarium

Origin

Unadapted borrowing from Latin glōssārium. Doublet of glossary.

glossary

Latin

From Latin glossarium, from glossa, an obscure or foreign word needing explanation, borrowed from Greek glossa, 'tongue, language'.

glossator

Origin

From Middle English glosatour, from Medieval Latin glōsātor, glossātor, from glōsāre, glōssāre (“to gloss”) + Latin -tor (agent suffix).

glossless

Origin

From gloss + -less.

glossolalia

Origin

From glosso- + -lalia, from Ancient Greek γλῶσσᾰ (glôssă, “tongue; language”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *glōgʰs) + λᾰλῐᾱ́ (lălĭā́, “talking; form of speech, dialect”) (from λᾰ́λος (lắlos, “talkative”) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns)).

glossology

Origin

From Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glôssa, “tongue; language”) + -ology.

glossy

Origin

From "gloss" (shine) plus the adjective ending "-y."

Gloucester

Latin

From Old English Glēawċeaster, from Latin Glēvum plus Old English ċeaster ("fort, city").