Where does “bowel” come from?
Bowel comes from Middle French bouel, from Old French boiel, from Latin botellus, a diminutive of botulus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European gʷet- and gū-.
bowel (English): A part or division of the intestines, usually the...
Definitions
- A part or division of the intestines, usually the...
Ancestry of “bowel”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle French | bouel | — |
| 2 | Old French | boiel | bowel |
| 3 | Latin | botellus | a small sausage |
| 4 | Latin | -lus | Alternative form of -ulus; diminutive suffix |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | -elos | Forms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |