Where does “bigwigism” come from?
bigwigism (English) comes from English bigwig, from English big, from Middle English big, from Middle English biggen, from Old Norse byggja, from Proto-Germanic būwijaną, from Proto-Germanic būaną, from Proto-Indo-European bʰuH- — to become, grow, appear.
Ancestry of “bigwigism”, step by step
bigwigism traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English bigwig
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | bigwig | A person of importance to a group or organization |
| 2 | English | big | Of great size, large; Thought to have undue... |
| 3 | Middle English | big | — |
| 4 | Middle English | biggen | build; dwell |
| 5 | Old Norse | byggja | to settle, build; to inhabit, dwell, live; to let... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | būwijaną | to settle, to inhabit |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | būaną | to dwell, reside |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰuH- | to become, grow, appear |
via English ism
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | ism | An ideology, system of thought, or practice that... |
| 2 | English | -ism | Used to form nouns of action or process or result... |
| 3 | Latin | -ismus | -ism |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | -ισμός | Forms abstract nouns |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | -μός | Forms abstract nouns |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -mós | Creates action/result nouns from verb stems |