Where does “vergrijzen” come from?
vergrijzen (Dutch) comes from Dutch grijs, from Middle Dutch grijs, from Old Dutch grīs, from Proto-West Germanic *grīs, from Proto-Germanic grīsaz — grey; terrible; frightening.
vergrijzen (Dutch): to grey; to age
Definitions
- to grey; to age
Ancestry of “vergrijzen”, step by step
vergrijzen traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Dutch grijs
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dutch | grijs | grey, grey-colored; old; weathered, tarnished,... |
| 2 | Middle Dutch | grijs | grey |
| 3 | Old Dutch | grīs | — |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | *grīs | grey |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | grīsaz | grey; terrible; frightening |
via Dutch ver- -en
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dutch | ver- -en | Forms factitive or ergative verbs from adjectives, meaning "to make more (adjective)" or "to become (adjective)" |