Word journey
The word guru
a spiritual teacher
The journey
| Form | Language | Date | Sense |
|---|---|---|---|
| *gʷréh₂us | Proto-Indo-European (reconstructed) · Proto-Indo-European Religion | undated | heavy; reconstructed (root *gʷreh2-) |
| guru | Vedic Sanskrit · Historical Vedic Religion | 1,200 BCE | heavy, weighty; venerable teacher |
| gurū | Punjabi / Hindi · Sikhism | 1500 CE | the Guru (Guru Nanak and his successors) |
| guru | English · Hinduism | 1825 CE | Hindu spiritual teacher; later any expert |
What is certain and what is not
The Sanskrit word first meant "heavy, weighty", so "venerable", and is cognate with Latin gravis. The popular reading "dispeller of darkness" (gu + ru) is a traditional folk etymology. For English, Dictionary.com gives 1820-30, while Wiktionary quotes the spelling gooroo from William Ward in 1817.