Where does “background” come from?
Background comes from English back and English grind, from Faroese grind, Old Swedish nattbakka, Latin bassus meaning low, and Ancient Greek βάσις meaning foundation.
background (English): Less important or less noticeable in a scene or...
Definitions
- Less important or less noticeable in a scene or...
Ancestry of “background”, step by step
background traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English ground
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | ground | The surface of the Earth, as opposed to the sky... |
| 2 | Middle English | ground | ground; Earth |
| 3 | Old English | grund | ground; bottom, foundation; abyss, depths |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | grunduz | ground, foundation |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | gʰrem- | to be angry; to sound, bellow, growl, roar, be... |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | gʰer- | to rub; to stroke; to grind |