gold

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ɡəʊld/, US /ɡoʊld/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gold, inherited from Old English gold,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *gulthan.^[3][2][5] Its cognates include Old Frisian gold, Old Saxon gold, Dutch goud, German Gold and Old Norse gull,^[2][3][4] and Gothic has gulþ.^[2][3][5] Watkins derives it from Proto-Indo-European *ghel- (“to shine”), with derivatives denoting the “bright” metal,^[3][6] the root also of yellow.^[4][5][7] Etymonline notes that this is the general Indo-European word for gold in Germanic, Balto-Slavic and Indo-Iranian, as in Old Church Slavonic zlato.^[3][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The precious metal: Old English gold, about 725.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Gold as a valuable possession or medium of exchange is from about 870.^[9] Etymonline notes that from Homer to Middle English red was often given as the colour of pure gold, perhaps from testing it by heat, and in Middle English red gold meant pure gold, from about 1200.^[3] Gold thread for ornamenting cloth is from about 1340,^[9] and the colour of the metal from about 1400.^[9][3] The adjective, “made of gold”, is from about 1200.^[3] The figurative use, for something precious and brilliant, is from before 1553.^[9] Gold medal as a first prize is from 1757, and gold rush from 1859, first in Australia.^[3] The adjective gold for a record that has sold a certain number of copies is from 1969.^[10][3]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English gold.^[2]
• c. 870 – gold as wealth.^[9]
• c. 1200 – red gold; adjective, made of gold.^[3]
• c. 1400 – the colour gold.^[9]
• 1757 – gold medal.^[3]
• 1859 – gold rush.^[3]
• 1969 – a gold record.^[10]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A soft, yellow, precious metallic element that does not corrode, symbol Au.
2. Coins or objects made of gold; money, wealth.
3. A bright yellow colour.
4. Something precious: a heart of gold.
5. A gold medal.

Adjective

1. Made of or like gold; of the colour of gold.

Related words

• gild
• gilded
• gilt
• golden
• goldsmith
• goldfinch
• yellow
• gleam
• glint

Usage notes

A separate, now dialectal gold is the corn marigold, from Old English golde.^[4][9]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster