/ˈmɔːɹ.nɪŋ/·noun·c. 1300 (as 'morning'); before 900 CE (as 'morgen')·Established
Origin
From Middle English 'morwening,' reshaped by analogy with 'evening' — from Old English 'morgen,' possibly 'to shimmer.'
Definition
The early part of the day, from dawn to noon or from midnight to noon.
The Full Story
Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 1300well-attested
From Proto-Indo-European *mer- ("to flicker, to shine faintly") or an extended form related to shimmering light, through Proto-Germanic *murginaz ("morning, dawn") and OldEnglish morgen ("morning, morrow"). ThePIE root *mer- related to shimmering or glimmering light is the most accepted derivation — morning being the time of faint, flickering light before full sunrise. Old English morgen -> Middle English morewen/morwen/morning (the -ing suffix is a later development, parallel to evening from Old English aefning) ->
Did you know?
German 'Morgen' meansboth 'morning' and 'tomorrow' — and it also means an old unit of land measurement, the amount one person could plow in a single morning.