Etymology
1. O.E.
cuman "come" (class IV strong verb; past tense
cuom, com, pp.
cumen), from P.Gmc.
*kwem-, from PIE base
*gwem- "to go, come" (cf. Skt.
gamati "he goes," Avestan
jamaiti "goes," Tocharian
kakmu "come," Lith.
gemu "to be born," Gk.
bainein "to go, walk, step," L.
venire "to come"). Substitution of
-o- for
-u- is scribal change before minims, cf.
monk, some, worm, orig.
munuc, sum, wyrm. Past tense form is probably from O.N.
kvam, replacing O.E.
cuom. Amazingly productive with prepositions (NTC's "Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs" lists 198 combinations); consider the varied senses in
come to "regain consciousness,"
come over "possess" (as an emotion),
come at "attack," and
come off "occur." For slang sexual senses, see cum.
Come-back "verbal retort" is from 1889.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *gʷeh₂-?
4. Proto-Indo-European *gʷem-
5. Proto-Indo-European *gʷémt
6. Proto-Germanic *kwemaną
7. Proto-West Germanic *kweman
8. Old English cuman
9. Middle English comen
10. English come
11. From Middle English comen, cumen, from Old English cuman, from Proto-West Germanic *kweman, from Proto-Germanic *kwemaną (“to come”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷémt (“to step; to arrive”), from *gʷem- (“to come, step”).
12. Cognates
13. Cognate from Proto-Germanic with Scots cum (“to come”), Yola come, coome, cum (“to come”), North Frisian kaame, kame, keem, kem, kum, kååme, käme (“to come”), Saterland Frisian kume, kuume (“to come”), West Frisian komme (“to come”), Alemannic German cha, cheemen, cheme, cho, chomu, chéeme (“to come”), Bavarian ckeman, kemma, kemman, khemen, kumma, kumman, kèmmin (“to come”), Central Franconian komme, kunn, kumme (“to come”), Cimbrian ken, khemmen, khèmman (“to come”), Dutch komen, kommen (“to come”), Dutch Low Saxon kåmen (“to come”), German and Luxembourgish kommen (“to come”), Low German kamen, kuemen (“to come”), Mòcheno kemmen (“to come”), Yiddish קימען (kimen), קומען (kumen, “to come”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål komme (“to come”), Elfdalian kumå (“to come”), Faroese and Icelandic koma (“to come; to arrive”), Jamtish kuma (“to come”), Norwegian Nynorsk koma, komma, komme, kåmmå, kåmå (“to come”), Swedish komma (“to come”), Crimean Gothic kommen (“to come”), Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (qiman, “to come”).
14. Cognate from Proto-Indo-European with Latin venio (“to come; to approach”), Greek βήμα (víma, “pace, step”), Albanian ngah, ngaj (“to hasten, run”), Latvian dzimt (“to be born”), Lithuanian gimti (“to be born”), Armenian եկ (ek, “the act of coming, arrival; income”), Avestan 𐬔𐬀𐬨 (gam, “to come, go”), Northern Kurdish gav (“step”), Persian گام (gâm, “step”), Tocharian A kum- (“to come”), Tocharian B käm- (“to come”), Sanskrit गम् (gam, “to come, go, move”). See: Middle English '
comen', Old English '
cuman', Proto-Germanic '
*kwemaną', Proto-Indo-European '
*gʷémt', Frisian, Northern 'kaame', Frisian, Saterlandic 'kume', Alemannic German '
cha', Dutch '
komen', Low Saxon 'kamen', Elfdalian '
kumå', Norwegian, nynorsk '
koma', Swedish '
komma', Latin '
venio', Lithuanian '
gimti', Sanskrit '
गम्'.
Verbs referencing "come"
Latin
venio, German, old spelling
kommen, Luxembourgish
kommen, Norwegian, nynorsk
koma, Danish
komme, Norwegian
komme, Bavarian kumma, Low Saxon kamen, Alemannic German
cha, Alemannic German
choo, Dari
آمدن, English
queme, Alemannic German
cho, Greek, Ancient
βαίνω, Latvian
iet, Lithuanian
gimti, Alemannic German
cheme, Cimbrian khèmman, Alemannic German
chéeme, Alemannic German
cheemen, Alemannic German
chomu, Bavarian kemma.