Where does “backslash” come from?
Backslash comes from English back and slash, with back tracing through French bac and Middle English bakke to Old Swedish nattbakka, ultimately from Latin bassus meaning low or deep.
backslash (English): The punctuation mark \; 2001, James T. Bretzke,...
Definitions
- The punctuation mark \; 2001, James T. Bretzke,...
Ancestry of “backslash”, step by step
backslash traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English back
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | back | Near the rear; Not current; Far from the main... |
| 2 | French | bac | ferry; vat; high school exit exam in France; A... |
| 3 | French | baccalauréat | baccalaureat; bachelor's degree |
| 4 | Medieval Latin | baccalaureatus | bachelor's degree |
| 5 | Latin | baccalaureus | bachelor |
| 6 | Latin | laurea | laurel, bay tree; crown, wreath or branch of... |
| 7 | Latin | laurus | laurel tree; laurels; a crown of laurel |
| 8 | English | -aceous | Of, relating to, resembling or containing the... |
| 9 | Latin | -āceus | aceous; resembling, having the nature of, forming, belonging to |
| 10 | Latin | -āx | ish, -y |
| 11 | Latin | -ium | Suffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes... |
| 12 | Latin | -ius | forming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter... |
| 13 | Proto-Italic | -jōs | Forms comparative adjectives |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |
via English slash
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | slash | A slashing action or motion, "particularly"; A... |
| 2 | French | esclachier | to break |
| 3 | Frankish | slaitan | to split, break |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | slaitijaną | — |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | slītaną | to tear apart |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | sleyd- | — |