Where does “Smallville” come from?
Smallville (English) comes from English ville, from French ville, from Middle French ville, from Old French ville, from Latin vīlla, from Latin vetera, from Latin vetus, from Latin -tus — Derives action nouns from verb roots.
Smallville (English): A fictional small town, frequently representing a backwater place of origin, usually a rural farming community in the United States
Definitions
- A fictional small town, frequently representing a backwater place of origin, usually a rural farming community in the United States
Ancestry of “Smallville”, step by step
Smallville traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English ville
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | ville | A Vietnamese village |
| 2 | French | ville | town, city |
| 3 | Middle French | ville | city or town |
| 4 | Old French | ville | city or town |
| 5 | Latin | vīlla | country house; villa |
| 6 | Latin | vetera | the old; old times, ancient times, antiquity |
| 7 | Latin | vetus | old, aged, elderly, ancient; long-standing;... |
| 8 | Latin | -tus | Forms the past participle of verbs; Forms... |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | -tus | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -tus | Derives action nouns from verb roots |
via English Small
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Small | Not large or big; insignificant; few in number |
| 2 | Middle English | smal | Small, miniscule; Little, few, scarce; Ground... |
| 3 | Old English | smæl | narrow, slim; not broad; slender; not thick;... |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | smal | small |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | smalaz | small |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)mal- | small; little |