Where does “Pied Piper” come from?
Pied Piper (English) comes from English pied, from English PIE, from Middle English pie, from Old French pié, from Latin pēs, from Ancient Greek μέτρον, from Ancient Greek -τρον, from Proto-Hellenic -tron — Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...
Pied Piper (English): A folk tale or legend, dating back to the Middle Ages, about a ratcatcher in variegated attire, hired by the German town of Hamelin, who is not paid for his services and retaliates by luring away the local children by playing a flute
Definitions
- A folk tale or legend, dating back to the Middle Ages, about a ratcatcher in variegated attire, hired by the German town of Hamelin, who is not paid for his services and retaliates by luring away the local children by playing a flute
Ancestry of “Pied Piper”, step by step
Pied Piper traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English pied
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | pied | Having two or more colors, especially black and... |
| 2 | English | PIE | A type of pastry that consists of an outer crust and a filling. (Savory pies are more popular in the UK and sweet pies are more popular in the US, so "pie" without qualification has different connotations in these dialects.) |
| 3 | Middle English | pie | Alternative form of pye |
| 4 | Old French | pié | foot |
| 5 | Latin | pēs | a foot, in its senses as |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | μέτρον | something used to measure: measure, rule, weight;... |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | -τρον | Forms instrument nouns |
| 8 | Proto-Hellenic | -tron | Forms instrument nouns from verb stems |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -trom | Forms nouns denoting a tool or instrument |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -tḗr | Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone... |
via English piper
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | piper | A musician who plays a pipe; A bagpiper; A baby... |
| 2 | Middle English | piper | Alternative form of peper; A piper; one who plays... |
| 3 | Old English | pīpere | piper |
| 4 | Old English | -ere | masculine agent suffix, originally applied only... |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | -ārī | -er |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -ārijaz | -er |
| 7 | Latin | -ārius | er |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | *-āzios | Forms relational adjectives to nouns (and rarely numerals) |