Where does “ontbalken” come from?

ontbalken (Dutch) comes from Dutch balk, from Middle Dutch balke, from Old Dutch balco, from Proto-West Germanic balkō, from Proto-Germanic balkô, from Proto-Indo-European bʰelǵ- — to balk, beam.

ontbalken (Dutch): to unbar, remove a bar to unlock a door

Definitions

  1. to unbar, remove a bar to unlock a door

Ancestry of “ontbalken”, step by step

ontbalken traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Dutch balk

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1DutchbalkA beam, solid support; A cuboid; A section, icon...
2Middle Dutchbalkebeam
3Old Dutchbalcobeam, log
4Proto-West Germanicbalkōbeam, balk
5Proto-Germanicbalkôbeam, balk
6Proto-Indo-Europeanbʰelǵ-to balk, beam

via Dutch ont- -en

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Dutchont- -enForms transitive verbs from nouns, meaning "to remove (noun) from, to rid of (noun), to de-(noun)"
Every word from Proto-Indo-European bʰelǵ-