Where does “collapse” come from?
Collapse comes from Latin collapsus, the past participle of collabor, formed from the prefix con- and laborr, meaning to fall together or fail utterly.
collapse (English): To break apart and fall down suddenly; to cave...
Definitions
- To break apart and fall down suddenly; to cave...
Ancestry of “collapse”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | collāpsus | collapsed, fallen in, having collapsed |
| 2 | Latin | collābor | to collapse, fall in |
| 3 | Latin | cōn- | Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing together of several objects |
| 4 | Latin | cum | with, along with; at; -fold |
| 5 | Old Latin | com | Alternative form of cum |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | kom | with, along, at |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 9 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 10 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 11 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 12 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 13 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 15 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |