Where does “betum” come from?
betum (Catalan) comes from Vulgar Latin *bittūmen, from Latin bitūmen, from Latin -men, from Proto-Italic *-mn̥.
Ancestry of “betum”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Vulgar Latin | *bittūmen | — |
| 2 | Latin | bitūmen | — |
| 3 | Latin | -men | forms neuter nouns of the third declension |
| 4 | Proto-Italic | *-mn̥ | — |