Where does “chair” come from?
Chair comes from Middle English chaire, from Old French chaiere, from Latin cathedra, from Ancient Greek καθέδρα, a compound of κατά and ἕδος meaning a seat or thing to sit upon.
chair (English): An item of furniture used to sit on or in,...
Definitions
- An item of furniture used to sit on or in,...
Ancestry of “chair”, step by step
chair traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via English Chuck
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Chuck | a Chuck Taylor All-Stars shoe |
| 2 | English | chock | Any object used as a wedge or filler, especially... |
| 3 | French | choquer | to hit, to collide; to shock |
| 4 | German | schockieren | to shock |
| 5 | Spanish | chocar | to crash; to bump into, to collide with; to... |
| 6 | Portuguese | chocar | to brood; to hatch; to linger |
| 7 | Russian | шоки́ровать | to horrify, to scandalize, to shock |
| 8 | Russian | -и́ровать | a productive verbal suffix, also used to create new verbs, especially from loanwords |
| 9 | German | -ieren | Verb suffix: it and its inflected forms are found... |
| 10 | French | -er | Forms infinitives of first-conjugation verbs |
| 11 | English | -er | A person or thing that does an action indicated... |
| 12 | Middle English | -er | agentive suffix; agent noun suffix |
| 13 | Old French | -er | Alternative form of -ier, verbal suffix;... |
| 14 | Latin | -āre | first conjugation |
| 15 | Proto-Italic | -āō | Forms primarily denominative verbs |
| 16 | Proto-Indo-European | -eh₂yéti | Creates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive... |
| 17 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 18 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
via Middle English chayere
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | chayere | Alternative form of chayer |
| 2 | Old French | chaiere | — |
| 3 | Latin | cathēdra | armchair (having cushions and supports) |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | καθέδρα | seat; sitting posture; teacher's chair,... |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | κατά | |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | καταστερίζω | to place among the stars; I put among the stars |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | ἀστήρ | a celestial body; illustrious person; starfish |
| 8 | Proto-Hellenic | astḗr | star |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂stḗr | star |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂eHs- | to be/become dry; to burn, to glow; hearth |