Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “Herodotus” come from?

Herodotus comes from Latin Herodotus, from Ancient Greek Ἡρόδοτος, which derives from the goddess name Ἥρᾱ combined with a patronymic or descriptive element.

Ancestry of “Herodotus”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1LatinHērodotus—
2Ancient GreekἩρόδοτος—
3Ancient Greekδοτόςgranted; given
4Proto-Indo-Europeandh₃tósgiven
5Proto-Indo-European-tósCreates verbal adjectives from verb stems
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tós →