Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “cinematographer” come from?

Cinematographer comes from French cinématographe, from French cinématographie, combining cinema with -graphe meaning writer or recorder, ultimately from Latin -arius and Proto-Italic -os.

cinematographer (English): A photographer who operates a movie camera, or...

Definitions

  1. A photographer who operates a movie camera, or...

Ancestry of “cinematographer”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishcinematographA camera that could develop its own film and...
2Frenchcinématographecinematograph
3French-graphe-graph; -grapher
4Latin-graphus—
5Ancient Greek-γράφοςwriter, painter
6Ancient Greekγράφωto scratch, cut into; to draw, sketch, paint; to...
7Proto-Hellenicgrəpʰōto scratch, cut or carve into; to draw ,...
8Proto-Indo-Europeangerbʰ-to carve
9Proto-Indo-Europeanger-to turn, bend, twist, wind; to tie, bind...
Every word from Proto-Indo-European ger- →