Where does “chaplain” come from?
Chaplain comes from Old French chapelain, derived from Latin cappella, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European kauput-, meaning head.
chaplain (English): A member of a religious body officially assigned...
Definitions
- A member of a religious body officially assigned...
Ancestry of “chaplain”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | chapeleyn | A member of the clergy serving as an assistant |
| 2 | Old French | chapelain | chaplain |
| 3 | Latin | cappellānus | chaplain |
| 4 | Latin | cappella | chapel; choir |
| 5 | Latin | -ella | inflection of -ellus: ## nominative/vocative... |
| 6 | Latin | -ellus | Alternative form of -ulus; "forming masculine... |
| 7 | Latin | -ulus | Used to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating... |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -olos | — |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | -elos | Forms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |