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Origin and history of Ernest

Ernest

masc. proper name, from French Ernest, which is of German origin (compare Old High German Ernust, German Ernst), literally "earnestness" (see earnest (adj.)). Among the top 50 names for boys born in U.S. from 1880 through 1933.

Entries linking to Ernest

earnest(adj.)

"serious or grave in speech or action," early 14c., ernest, from Old English eornoste (adj.) "zealous, serious," or from Old English noun eornost "seriousness, serious intent" (surviving only in the phrase in earnest), from Proto-Germanic *er-n-os-ti- (source also of Old Saxon ernust, Old Frisian ernst, Old High German arnust "seriousness, firmness, struggle," German Ernst "seriousness;" Gothic arniba "safely, securely;" Old Norse ern "able, vigorous," jarna "fight, combat"), perhaps from PIE root *er- (1) "to move, set in motion." The proper name Ernest (literally "resolute") is from the same root. Related: Earnestness.

Ernestine

fem. form of Ernest. As an adjective, in German history, "pertaining to the elder branch of the Saxon house," who descend from Ernest, Elector of Saxony 15c.

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    Trends of Ernest

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    invictus
    [William Ernest Henley, "Invictus"]...
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    Used by Hippocrates to denote a vital principle; modern scientific meaning coined by English physiologist Ernest Henry Starling...
    proton
    1920 in physics sense of "sub-atomic particle with a positive charge," coined by British physicist Ernest Rutherford (1871...
    nucleus
    Modern meaning in physics, "positively charged central core of an atom," is from 1912, by Ernest Rutherford, though theoretical...
    Uncle Tom
    [Ernest Allen, quoted in Hamilton, Kendra, "The Strange Career of Uncle Tom," Black Issues in Higher Education, June 2002...
    Moses
    [Ernest Klein, "A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language"] As an expletive or oath, Oh, Moses, 1840...
    lipogram
    [Ernest Vincent Wright, "Gadsby: A Story of Over 50,000 Words without Using the Letter 'e'," Los Angeles: 1939]...
    hilarity
    mid-15c., from Latin hilaritatem (nominative hilaritas) "cheerfulness, gaiety, merriment," from hilaris "cheerful, merry," from Greek hilaros "cheerful, merry, joyous," related to hilaos "graceful, kindly," hilaskomai "to propitiate, appease, reconcile,"and probably from a suffix
    hamburger
    1610s, Hamburger "native of Hamburg." Also used of ships from Hamburg. From 1838 as a type of excellent black grape indigenous to Tyrolia; 1857 as a variety of hen. The meat product was so called by 1880 (as hamburg steak); if it was named for the German city no certain connectio
    Appalachian
    in reference to the North American mountain range, c. 1600, Mountaynes Apalatsi; written apalachen by Spanish explorers and originally in reference only to the southern end of the range. Originally the name of the Apalachee, a Muskogean people of northwestern Florida, perhaps fro

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