go
To move from one place to another; to travel.
Etymology
English "go" comes from Old English gān, from Proto-Germanic *gāną, possibly from PIE *gʰeh₁- "to leave, to go," though the connection is debated. The PIE landscape of "going" is complex — *h₁ey- "to go," *gʷem- "to come, step," and *gʰeh₁- all contributed motion words to daughter languages. English supplements "go" with "went" (originally past tense of "wend"). Via Latin: "cede," "proceed," "exceed" come from *ḱed- "to go."
The Journey: *gʰeh₁- → go
*gʰeh₁-
*gāną
gān
gon
go
Cognates Across Languages
These words in other languages descend from the same PIE root *gʰeh₁-. They are not borrowings but independent inheritances from a common ancestor.
| Language | Word |
|---|---|
| Greek | kikhānō (I reach) |
| Latin | (not directly attested) |
| Sanskrit | jáhāti (leaves) |
| Lithuanian | žeñgti (to stride) |
| Tocharian B | käsk- (to go) |
| Old Church Slavonic | (not directly attested) |
Did You Know?
English "go" has a suppletive past tense — "went" — stolen from a completely different verb, "wend." Old English had gān/ēode, but "went" (from wendan "to turn") gradually replaced the original past tense. This makes "go/went" one of the most irregular pairs in English.