Where does “dentist” come from?
dentist (Dutch) comes from French dentiste, from French dent, from Middle French dent, from Old French dent, from Latin dēns, from Italian dente, from Latin dens, from Proto-Italic dents — to eat.
dentist (Dutch): dentist
Ancestry of “dentist”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | French | dentiste | dentist |
| 2 | French | dent | tooth; cog |
| 3 | Middle French | dent | tooth |
| 4 | Old French | dent | tooth |
| 5 | Latin | dēns | — |
| 6 | Italian | dente | tooth; cog, prong |
| 7 | Latin | dens | tooth; a spike, prong, or any tooth-like... |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | dents | tooth |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | h₃dónts | tooth |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁ed- | to eat |