Where does “engine” come from?
engine (Anglo-Norman) comes from Old French engin, from Latin ingenium, from Latin gignere, from Latin genere, from Latin genus, from Proto-Italic genos, from Proto-Indo-European ǵénh₁os, from Proto-Indo-European ǵenh₁- — to produce, to beget, to give birth.
Ancestry of “engine”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | engin | intelligence; ruse; trickery; deception;... |
| 2 | Latin | ingenium | innate or natural quality, natural character;... |
| 3 | Latin | gignere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 4 | Latin | genere | ablative singular of genus; to beget, produce |
| 5 | Latin | genus | birth, origin, lineage, descent; kind, type,... |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | genos | lineage, origin |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵénh₁os | race, lineage |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵenh₁- | to produce, to beget, to give birth |