Where does “baby elephant in the room” come from?
baby elephant in the room (English) comes from English baby, from Middle English baby, from Middle English -y, from Old English -iġ, from Proto-West Germanic -g, from Proto-Germanic -gaz, from Proto-Indo-European -ḱos — -y, -ic.
baby elephant in the room (English): An obvious but mostly inconsequential issue
Definitions
- An obvious but mostly inconsequential issue
Ancestry of “baby elephant in the room”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | baby | A very young human, particularly from birth to a... |
| 2 | Middle English | baby | — |
| 3 | Middle English | -y | Designates an adjective, in many cases formed by... |
| 4 | Old English | -iġ | -y, -ic |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | -g | Forms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -gaz | -y |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -ḱos | -y, -ic |