Where does “commencement” come from?
Commencement comes from Old French comencement, formed from the Old French verb comencer with the suffix -ment, ultimately from Latin com- meaning "together" and the Latin suffix -mentum denoting an action or result.
commencement (English): The first existence of anything; act or fact of...
Definitions
- The first existence of anything; act or fact of...
Ancestry of “commencement”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | commencement | beginning, start |
| 2 | Old French | comencement | start; beginning |
| 3 | Old French | comencier | to start; to begin |
| 4 | Vulgar Latin | cominitiare | present active infinitive of *cominitiō;... |
| 5 | Latin | com- | allomorph of con- |
| 6 | Latin | con- | Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing... |
| 7 | Latin | cum | with, along with; at; -fold |
| 8 | Old Latin | com | Alternative form of cum |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | kom | with, along, at |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 12 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 13 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 14 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 15 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 16 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 17 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 18 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |