Where does “breastfeeding” come from?
I notice there's a problem with the chain provided: it contains two separate etymology lines that don't connect to each other (breast and pandemic are unrelated), and "breastfeeding" as a headword doesn't match the chain given. Could you clarify: 1. Is the headword "breast" or "breastfeeding"? 2. Should the chain only include the breast line (English breast → Old Norse brestr → Proto-Indo-European bʰr̥stís/bʰrews-)? 3. Are the pandemic/Greek πάνδημος elements included by mistake? Once confirmed, I can write an accurate one-sentence etymology.
breastfeeding (English): The activity of feeding a baby or young child...
Definitions
- The activity of feeding a baby or young child...
Ancestry of “breastfeeding”, step by step
breastfeeding traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English feeding
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | feeding | present participle of feed; An instance of giving... |
| 2 | English | feed | To give food to eat; To eat; To give to as... |
| 3 | Galician | feden | third-person plural present indicative of feder |
| 4 | Old English | fēdan | to feed |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | *fōdijan | to feed |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | fōdijaną | to feed; to give birth |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | peh₂- | to protect; to shepherd |
via English breast
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | breast | Either of the two organs on the front of a female... |
| 2 | Middle English | brest | chest, thorax; The breast in several contexts;... |
| 3 | Old English | brēost | chest |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | breust | breast, chest |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | breustą | breast, chest |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰrews- | to break |