Eleanor Horner

Because every question is a linguistics question.

July 2025

Both chicken and egg can be traced back to their Proto-Germanic^G roots: *kiukīnan and *ajjaz^G (^G is for glossary). *kiukīnan is an imitation of the sound of a chicken, and *ajjaz probably comes from Proto-Indo-European^G *o(w)yóm, which is the root of “egg” in several other languages, including Latin ōvum and Old Cornish^G uy.

But neither of these Proto-Germanic roots much resemble the words as we know them today. And the question is not whether the chicken or the egg has the oldest ancestor.

So, to ask a more sensible question:

Hwæt com ǣrest: se cicen oððe þæt ǣg?¹

I have conducted a survey of native Modern English speakers to determine whether they can understand cīcen and ǣg. And since I won’t let a sample size of two get in the way of conclusive evidence, I can confidently say that 100% of native English speakers recognise both words, when they can read and hear them.

However, the pronunciation chee-chen² is closer to the Modern English pronunciation than aag² is. And egg got scrambled into Middle English eai/aei/ei, before being replaced with a northern (dialectal) word (eg/egge).

Therefore: because the unwaveringly recognisable chicken predates Westminster Abbey, I think it is only fair to conclude that the chicken came first.

Notes
1 Unfortunately, I don’t speak Old English, so this is an AI translation.
2 My (tenuous) understanding of the pronunciation is based on the Old English Online guide, and my transcription is based on my slightly Northern-English English accent. To write it sensibly: [t͡ʃiːt͡ʃɛn], [aːg].

Glossary
Proto-Germanic: Humans, chimpanzees and monkeys all look quite similar, because they have evolved from a common ancestor relatively recently. English, German and Dutch all look quite similar (I have bread / Ich habe Brot / Ik heb brood) because they evolved from a common ancestor (Proto-Germanic) relatively recently.
Proto-Indo-Euoropean: Humans, dogs and weasels don’t look quite similar, because they evolved from a common ancestor donkey’s years ago. English, French and Irish don’t look quite similar (I have bread / J’ai du pain / Tá arán agam), because they evolved from a common ancestor (Proto-Indo-European) about 5000 years ago.
Asterisk: Neither Proto-Germanic nor Proto-Indo-European were ever written down. They are reconstructed languages. A reconstructed word is always indicated by an asterisk.
Old Cornish: Cornish is a Celtic language that was spoken in Cornwall until 1799. Old Cornish is to Cornish what Chaucer is to Modern English.

Sources
Barnhart, R. K. (ed.) (1988). Chambers Dictionary of Etymology.
Birkett, T. and Koivisto-Kokko, V. Old English Online. ‘Old English Pronunciation Guide.’ Accessed 17/07/2025. Available at: https://oldenglish.info/advpronunciationguide.html