Where does “barrenness” come from?
Barrenness comes from Middle English -nesse, Old English -nes, Proto-Germanic -inassuz, and Proto-Indo-European bʰos-, ultimately denoting the quality of being barren or unproductive.
barrenness (English): The property of being barren; the property of not...
Definitions
- The property of being barren; the property of not...
Ancestry of “barrenness”, step by step
barrenness traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English barren
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | barren | Unable to bear children; sterile; Of poor... |
| 2 | English | -ness | Appended to adjectives to form nouns meaning "the... |
| 3 | Middle English | -nesse | Affixed to adjectives to form abstract nouns... |
| 4 | Old English | -nes | Used to form abstract nouns, usually from... |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | -nassī | Used to form abstract nouns, usually from... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -inassuz | -ness |
| 7 | Proto-West Germanic | -ī | -ness, -th |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | -į̄ | -th |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -íh₂ | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -h₂ | Creates collective nouns, which refer to groups... |
via Middle English bareynnesse
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | bareynnesse | infertility, sterility inability to give birth |