Where does “anniversary” come from?
Anniversary comes from Middle English anniversary, from Latin anniversārium, meaning "returning annually."
anniversary (English): A day that is an exact number of years since a...
Definitions
- A day that is an exact number of years since a...
Ancestry of “anniversary”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | anniversary | — |
| 2 | Medieval Latin | anniversaria | nominative feminine singular of anniversārius;... |
| 3 | Latin | anniversārius | annual, yearly |
| 4 | Latin | versus | turned, changed, having been turned; towards,... |
| 5 | Latin | vertō | to turn, turn oneself, direct one's way, to turn about, turn around, revolve |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | wertō | to turn |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | wert- | to turn, to rotate |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | wer- | to burn; to cover, heed, notice; squirrel |