Where does “climbing” come from?
Climbing is a Middle English formation combining clymbyng with the suffix -ing, derived from Old English -ing and -ung, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots gel- and gley-.
climbing (English): The sport of climbing, ascending a wall or a rock...
Definitions
- The sport of climbing, ascending a wall or a rock...
Ancestry of “climbing”, step by step
climbing traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English clymbyng
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | clymbyng | climbing, ascension; rising in society |
| 2 | Middle English | -ing | Forms gerunds from verbs, typically referring to... |
| 3 | Old English | -ing | Forming nouns from verbs, indicating action,... |
| 4 | Old English | -tūn | homestead, village, town |
| 5 | Old English | tūn | enclosure, yard; place; dwelling |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | tūn | fence |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | tūną | fence; enclosure |
| 8 | Gaulish | dunum | fort; hill, hillfort |
| 9 | Proto-Celtic | dūnom | stronghold, rampart |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | dʰewh₂- | smoke; mist, haze |
via English climb
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | climb | To ascend; rise; to go up; To mount; to move... |
| 2 | German | klimmen | to climb |
| 3 | Middle High German | klimben | — |
| 4 | Old High German | klimban | — |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | klimbaną | to climb |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | klībaną | to stick, cling to |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | gleybʰ- | to stick |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | gley- | to glue, paste, stick together; to glue, stick... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | gel- | to be cold, to freeze |