Etymology
1. c.1300,
yenen, yonen, from O.E.
ginian, gionian "open the mouth wide, gape," from P.Gmc.
*gin- (cf. O.N.
gina "to yawn," Du.
geeuwen, O.H.G.
ginen, Ger.
gähnen "to yawn"), from PIE
*gh(e)i- (cf. O.C.S.
zijajo "to gape," Lith.
zioju, Czech
zivati "to yawn," Gk.
khainein, L.
hiare "to yawn, gape," Skt.
vijihite "to gape, be ajar"). Noun meaning "act of yawning" is recorded from 1697.
Yawner "something boring" is Amer.Eng. slang first recorded 1942 (
yawn in this sense is attested from 1889).
2. Partly from Middle English yanen, yonen, yenen (“to yawn”), from Old English ġeonian, ġinian (“to yawn, gape”), from Proto-West Germanic *ginōn, from Proto-Germanic *ginōną (“to yawn”); and partly from Middle English gonen (“to gape, yawn”), from Old English gānian (“to yawn, gape”), from Proto-West Germanic *gainōn, from Proto-Germanic *gainōną (“to yawn, gape”); both from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰi-, *ǵʰeyh₁- (“to yawn, gape”).
3. Cognate with North Frisian jåne (“to yawn”), Saterland Frisian jaanje, joanje (“to yawn”), Middle Dutch genen, ghenen (“to yawn”), German Low German jahnen (“to yawn”), German gähnen (“to yawn, gape”), dialectal Swedish gana (“to gape, gawk”), dialectal Norwegian gina (“to gape”).
4. Compare also Old Church Slavonic зѣѭ (zějǫ) (Russian зи́нуть (zínutʹ), зия́ть (zijátʹ)), Greek χαίνω (khaínō)), Latin hiō, Tocharian A śew, Tocharian B kāyā, Lithuanian žioti, Sanskrit जेह् (jeh) See: Proto-Germanic '
*ginōną', Frisian, Northern 'jåne', Frisian, Saterlandic 'jaanje', German, old spelling '
gähnen', Swedish '
gana', Russian '
зи́нуть'.
Verbs referencing "yawn"
Dutch
gapen, German, old spelling
gieren, Cimbrian gòonan, Lithuanian
žiovauti.