Where does “cottonwood” come from?
Cottonwood comes from English cotton and wood, where wood derives from Middle English wood, Welsh cyd, and Proto-Indo-European widʰu- meaning tree or wood.
cottonwood (English): A tree from one of number of species of tree in...
Definitions
- A tree from one of number of species of tree in...
Ancestry of “cottonwood”, step by step
cottonwood traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English Cotton
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Cotton | The name of several settlements around the world |
| 2 | Middle English | cotoun | — |
| 3 | Anglo-Norman | cotun | — |
| 4 | Middle English | coton | cotton fiber of |
| 5 | Old French | cotoun | cotton; a piece of cotton |
| 6 | Italian | cotone | cotton; cotton wool |
| 7 | Arabic | قُطُن | — |
| 8 | Arabic | قُطْن | cotton |
via English Wood
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Wood | An English topographic surname for someone who lived in or near a wood |
| 2 | English | Frog | Alternative form of frog |
| 3 | Portuguese | froco | flock |
| 4 | Latin | floccus | tuft, wisp of wool |
| 5 | Frankish | flokko | down, wool, flock |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | *flukkô | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | plewk- | to fly, flow, run; to splash, to flap with hands |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | plew- | to fly, flow, run |