Where does “Bender” come from?
Bender derives from English bend with the agent suffix -er, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰendʰ-, a root meaning to bend or curve that passed through Latin -arius, Old French -er, and Chinese 兒.
Ancestry of “Bender”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | bend | To cause to change its shape into a curve, by... |
| 2 | Middle English | benden | — |
| 3 | Old English | bendan | to bind; to bend a bow |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | bandijan | to bind |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | bandijaną | To bind, fetter, restrain; stretch; To bend |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰendʰ- | to bind; bond |