Where does “clause” come from?
Clause comes from Middle English clause, from Old French clause, from Medieval Latin clausa, from Latin clausus, the past participle of claudere meaning to close or shut.
clause (English): A verb, its necessary grammatical arguments, and...
Definitions
- A verb, its necessary grammatical arguments, and...
Ancestry of “clause”, step by step
clause traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via French clause
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | clause | clause |
| 2 | German | Klausel | term; clause |
| 3 | Spanish | cláusula | clause |
| 4 | Portuguese | cláusula | clause |
| 5 | Italian | clausola | clause, codicil |
| 6 | Latin | clausula | conclusion, close, end; the close of a period;... |
| 7 | Latin | -ula | regō + API → rēgula; tegō + API → tēgula;... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -tlom | Alternative form of *-trom |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -trom | Forms nouns denoting a tool or instrument |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -tḗr | Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone... |
via Middle English clause
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | clause | sentence, clause; statement, line; writing, text,... |