Where does “Christmas tree” come from?
Christmas tree (English) comes from English Christmas, from Middle English Cristemasse, from Old English Cristes mæsse, from Old English mæsse, from Vulgar Latin messa, from Latin missa, from Latin missum, from Latin mittō — to hurt; to exchange, remove; to replace, to...
Christmas tree (English): A conifer used during the Christmas holiday...
Definitions
- A conifer used during the Christmas holiday...
Ancestry of “Christmas tree”, step by step
Christmas tree traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via English Christmas
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Christmas | A festival or holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ and incorporating various Christian, pre-Christian, pagan, and secular customs including gift-giving, which in Western Christianity is celebrated on December 25 (Christmas Day) in most places |
| 2 | Middle English | Cristemasse | Christmas the 25th of December |
| 3 | Old English | Cristes mæsse | Christmas |
| 4 | Old English | mæsse | mass |
| 5 | Vulgar Latin | messa | Eucharist, dismissal; Eucharist; dismissal;... |
| 6 | Latin | missa | Mass; Christian eucharistic liturgy; nominative... |
| 7 | Latin | missum | accusative supine of mittō; inflection of... |
| 8 | Latin | mittō | to send, dispatch, cause to go, let go, release, discharge |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | meitō | to put forth, put out |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | meyth₂- | to hurt; to exchange, remove; to replace, to... |
via German Weihnachtsbaum
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | German | Weihnachtsbaum | Christmas tree |
| 2 | German | baum | tree |
| 3 | Middle High German | boum | tree |
| 4 | Old High German | boum | tree, beam |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | baum | tree; beam |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | baumaz | Alternative form of *bagmaz; tree, beam, balk;... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰew- | to grow, swell; to swell, wax, grow; to blow; to... |