Where does “avalanche” come from?
Avalanche comes from French avalanche, from Franco-Provençal avalançhe, from Franco-Provençal aval meaning downward.
avalanche (English): A large mass or body of snow and ice sliding...
Definitions
- A large mass or body of snow and ice sliding...
Ancestry of “avalanche”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | avalanche | avalanche |
| 2 | Franco-Provençal | avalançhe | — |
| 3 | Latin | labanka | — |
| 4 | Late Latin | labina | landslide; landslide; slippery place; a slippery... |
| 5 | Latin | labi | present active infinitive of lābor; to glide; to... |
| 6 | Latin | labor | work; labour, toil; hardship, trouble, fatigue,... |
| 7 | Old Latin | labos | — |
| 8 | Romanian | labă | palm; paw |
| 9 | Hungarian | láb | leg; foot; support, stand |
| 10 | Proto-Uralic | luwe | bone |
| 11 | Proto-Iranian | *Hrawpācáh | fox |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-Iranian | *Hrawpāćás | fox |