*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of Then

* As a south German surname, from the personal name Thön, a form of Anthony. * Also as a German surname, a variant of Ten, occupational surname for a mintmaster, from obsolete Middle Low German ten, tene (“blank; disk fr

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
name

A surname.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

* As a south German surname, from the personal name Thön, a form of Anthony. * Also as a German surname, a variant of Ten, occupational surname for a mintmaster, from obsolete Middle Low German ten, tene (“blank; disk from which a coin is made”), possibly related to Proto-Germanic *tainaz (“metal rod”), or perhaps otherwise from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”). * Also as a German name, from the noun Tenne (“threshing-floor”). * As a Chinese surname, a Romanization of 鄧 /邓 (dèng) (see Deng) and 田 (tián) (see Tian).

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Derivation mentionten, tenegml · blank; disk from which a coin is made
  • Derivation mention*tainazgem-pro · metal rod
  • Derivation mention*ten-ine-pro · to stretch
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "de",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "German"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gml",
        "3": "ten, tene",
        "t": "blank; disk from which a coin is made"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle Low German ten, tene (“blank; disk from which a coin is made”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*tainaz",
        "t": "metal rod"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *tainaz (“metal rod”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*ten-",
        "t": "to stretch"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "zh",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Chinese"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "Thön",
      "Thön#German"
    ],
    [
      "Anthony",
      "Anthony#English"
    ],
    [
      "Ten",
      "Ten#English"
    ],
    [
      "ten",
      "ten#Middle_Low_German"
    ],
    [
      "tene",
      "tene#Middle_Low_German"
    ],
    [
      "*tainaz",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/tainaz"
    ],
    [
      "*ten-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/ten-"
    ],
    [
      "Tenne",
      "Tenne#German"
    ],
    [
      "鄧",
      "鄧#Chinese"
    ],
    [
      "邓",
      "邓#Chinese"
    ],
    [
      "Deng",
      "Deng#English"
    ],
    [
      "田",
      "田#Chinese"
    ],
    [
      "Tian",
      "Tian#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "name",
      "glosses": [
        "A surname."
      ],
      "tags": [],
      "recordId": "7ba07cdfcfdb1b4974e6ac3fb2e56b041154e16f89f7757691696a76a1547045",
      "rawRecordSha256": "7d57137a6a8ec134656eca841db59341ebefccecc7f1761b9637c47bba55b984",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 6588238
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for Then →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-VGhlbg