Where does “Milky Way” come from?
Milky Way (English) comes from Middle English Milky Wey, from Latin Via Lactea, from Latin viā, from Proto-Italic *wiā, from Proto-Indo-European wih₁eh₂-, from Proto-Indo-European weyh₁- — to chase, pursue; to suppress, persecute.
Ancestry of “Milky Way”, step by step
Words derived from “Milky Way”