Where does “biomass” come from?
Biomass is a blend of English bio-, from Ancient Greek βίος (bios, life), and English mass, from Latin massa, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European gʷeih₃w-.
biomass (English): The total mass of a living thing or part thereof,...
Definitions
- The total mass of a living thing or part thereof,...
Ancestry of “biomass”, step by step
biomass traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English Mass
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Mass | The principal liturgical service of the Church,... |
| 2 | Middle English | messe | Mass; The Eucharist; Holy Communion; The act of... |
| 3 | Old English | mæsse | mass |
| 4 | Vulgar Latin | messa | Eucharist, dismissal; Eucharist; dismissal;... |
| 5 | Latin | missa | Mass; Christian eucharistic liturgy; nominative... |
| 6 | Latin | missum | accusative supine of mittō; inflection of... |
| 7 | Latin | mittō | to send, dispatch, cause to go, let go, release, discharge |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | meitō | to put forth, put out |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | meyth₂- | to hurt; to exchange, remove; to replace, to... |
via English Bio
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Bio | Abbreviation of biology |
| 2 | English | biology | The study of all life or living matter; The... |
| 3 | Ancient Greek | βίος | life |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | Γένεσις | Genesis. The title of the first book of the Bible and Pentateuch as in the Septuagint translation in Greek |
| 5 | Proto-Hellenic | génetis | origin, source |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵénh₁tis | birth, production |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵenh₁- | to produce, to beget, to give birth |