Where does “Amtrak” come from?
Amtrak (English) comes from English track, from Middle English trak, from Old French trac, from Middle Dutch treck, from Old Dutch trecken, from Proto-West Germanic *trakkjan, from Proto-Germanic trakjaną, from Proto-Germanic -janą — he, she.
Amtrak (English): A US passenger railway (incorporated as the National Railroad Passenger Corporation)
Definitions
- A US passenger railway (incorporated as the National Railroad Passenger Corporation)
Ancestry of “Amtrak”, step by step
Amtrak traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English track
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | track | A mark left by something that has passed along; A... |
| 2 | Middle English | trak | — |
| 3 | Old French | trac | track of horses, trail, trace; track; a track,... |
| 4 | Middle Dutch | treck | — |
| 5 | Old Dutch | trecken | — |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | *trakkjan | to drag |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | trakjaną | to drag |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | -janą | Derives denominatives from nouns and factitives... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 11 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |
via English american
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | american | A citizen or national of the United States of America |
| 2 | English | -n | Alternative form of -en; API; Alternative form of... |
| 3 | Old Norse | -inn | Used to create adjectives from nouns, meaning... |
| 4 | Proto-Norse | -īna- | — |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | -īnaz | -en |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -iHnos | Creates adjectives of materials |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -no- | adjectival suffix |