Where does “Sunnyvale” come from?
Sunnyvale is a modern English place name combining sunny, from Latin sōl meaning sun via Proto-Indo-European sóh₂wl̥, and vale, from Latin vallis meaning valley.
Ancestry of “Sunnyvale”, step by step
Sunnyvale traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English sunny
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | sunny | Featuring a lot of sunshine; Receiving a lot of... |
| 2 | Middle English | sunni | Full of or illuminated by sunlight; sunny |
| 3 | Middle English | -y | Designates an adjective, in many cases formed by... |
| 4 | Middle English | -ien | Forms nouns and adjectives denoting origin, association, or residence; -ian |
| 5 | Old English | -ian | Forms verbs from nouns and adjectives |
| 6 | Old English | -ōjan | — |
| 7 | Proto-West Germanic | -ōn | Creates denominative verbs from nouns; Creates... |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | -ōną | Creates denominative verbs from nouns; Creates... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -eh₂yéti | Creates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive... |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 12 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |