Where does “Cantonese” come from?
Cantonese derives from English Canton, from Portuguese Cantão, from Chinese 廣東, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ne through Latin in, in-, en-, and Latin -ensis.
Cantonese (English): Relating to Canton; Relating to Cantonese people;...
Definitions
- Relating to Canton; Relating to Cantonese people;...
Ancestry of “Cantonese”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Canton | Guangzhou; Guangdong |
| 2 | Portuguese | Cantão | canton state-level subdivision of Switzerland, Luxembourg and Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| 3 | Portuguese | canto | singing; chant; a bird’s song |
| 4 | Old Portuguese | canto | — |
| 5 | Latin | cantus | sung, recited; sounded, blew; chanted |
| 6 | Latin | canere | present active infinitive of canō; second-person... |
| 7 | Latin | caneo | I am white, gray or hoary |
| 8 | Latin | -eo | Forms stative verbs from adjectives; dative... |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | -ēō | Forms stative verbs, indicating a state of being;... |
| 10 | Proto-Italic | -ējō | — |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | -éh₁yeti | Thematicization of the athematic stative verbal... |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | -yeti | Creates transitive imperfective verbs from roots |