Where does “chainsaw” come from?
Chainsaw is a compound of chain, from Middle English chaine via Old English sagu and Latin catena, with ultimate roots in Proto-Indo-European kat-, and saw, from Proto-Indo-European sekʷe- and sek-.
chainsaw (English): A saw that has a power-driven and fast-revolving...
Definitions
- A saw that has a power-driven and fast-revolving...
Ancestry of “chainsaw”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | chain | A series of interconnected rings or links usually... |
| 2 | English | blockchain | A shared record of past transactions in a... |
| 3 | English | block | A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece... |
| 4 | French | Bloc | — |
| 5 | Middle French | bloc | a considerable piece of something heavy, block |
| 6 | Old French | bloc | log, block |
| 7 | Dutch | blok | a block; a street block; a political bloc |
| 8 | Middle Dutch | blok | treetrunk |
| 9 | Old Dutch | blok | log |
| 10 | Proto-West Germanic | blokk | — |
| 11 | Proto-Germanic | blukką | block, log |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | bhulg'- | — |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | bhelg'- | thick plank, beam, pile, prop |
Words derived from “chainsaw”