Where does “battleship” come from?
Battleship is a compound of battle and ship, tracing through Old English scipian and Old French -ier to Latin -are and -arius, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰew-.
battleship (English): Large capital warship displacing tens of...
Definitions
- Large capital warship displacing tens of...
Ancestry of “battleship”, step by step
battleship traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English ship
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | ship | A water-borne vessel generally larger than a... |
| 2 | English | relationship | Connection or association; the condition of being... |
| 3 | English | relation | The manner in which two things may be associated;... |
| 4 | Middle English | relacion | — |
| 5 | Old French | relacion | — |
| 6 | Latin | relātiō | carrying or bringing back |
| 7 | Latin | referō | to bear, bring, drive, or carry back, off, or away |
| 8 | Latin | rĕ- | back, backwards |
| 9 | Latin | prōdūcō | to lead or bring forth, forward or out |
| 10 | Latin | prō- | forward direction, forward movement |
| 11 | Proto-Italic | *pro- | pro- see the Latin entry for further meanings |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | pro- | toward, forward |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | por- | to give birth; forward, through; going, passage |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | per- | before, in front; first; to go through |
| 15 | Proto-Indo-European | pr̥tós | passed , crossed |
via English Battle
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Battle | from places in England that have been sites of a battle |
| 2 | Middle English | batel | Alternative form of batayle; flourishing |
| 3 | Old English | batol | improving, tending to be good |
| 4 | Old English | batian | to fatten, to get fatter; to improve, to get... |
| 5 | Old English | -ol | Used to form suffixes denoting inclination or... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -ulaz | Forms adjectives from verbs meaning "doing" or... |