Where does “Jay” come from?
Jay (English) comes from English jy, from English I, from Old French i, from Latin hīc, from Latin heic, from Latin hic, from Proto-Italic hek(e), from Proto-Indo-European gʰi-ḱe — resin, gum; to say, speak.
Ancestry of “Jay”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | jy | The name of the Latin-script letter J |
| 2 | English | I | The speaker or writer, referred to as the... |
| 3 | Old French | i | there |
| 4 | Latin | hīc | — |
| 5 | Latin | heic | — |
| 6 | Latin | hic | this; these; this one; this ; these ones ; these... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | hek(e) | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | gʰi-ḱe | this, here |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 10 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 11 | German | kitt | — |
| 12 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 13 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 14 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 15 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |