Where does “creole” come from?
Creole comes from Spanish criollo, from Portuguese crioulo, derived from Portuguese cria and criar, ultimately from Latin creare meaning "to create" or "to produce."
creole (English): A lect formed from two or more languages which...
Definitions
- A lect formed from two or more languages which...
Ancestry of “creole”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spanish | criollo | creole; unmixed European-descended Latin... |
| 2 | Portuguese | crioulo | criollo; a slave born at the house of his master;... |
| 3 | Portuguese | cria | young; offspring; kid; young'un; someone who is... |
| 4 | Portuguese | criar | to create, to put into existence; to invent; to... |
| 5 | Old Portuguese | criar | to raise |
| 6 | Latin | creō | to create, to give existence to, to form, to make, to produce, to originate out of other materials or out of nihility (transitively) |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱer- | to grow, to make grow, to nourish; to plait,... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | kr̥- | to turn, to bend |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ker- | army |