Where does “crewmember” come from?
Crewmember combines crew, from Old French creue meaning an increase or addition of people, ultimately from Latin cresco meaning to grow, with member, from Old French membre and Latin membrum meaning a limb or part of a body.
crewmember (English): A member of a crew
Ancestry of “crewmember”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | crew | A group of people together; A person in a crew;... |
| 2 | Middle English | crue | — |
| 3 | Old French | creue | increase; augmentation; recruit; feminine... |
| 4 | Old French | croistre | to increase; to augment |
| 5 | Latin | crēscō | — |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | krēskō | — |
| 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 |