Where does “culture” come from?
Culture comes from Middle French culture, from Latin cultura, the practice of cultivating or tending, derived from Latin colo meaning to till or inhabit, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European kʷel-.
culture (English): The arts, customs, lifestyles, background, and...
Definitions
- The arts, customs, lifestyles, background, and...
Ancestry of “culture”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle French | culture | cultivation; culture |
| 2 | Latin | cultūra | care, cultivation; agriculture, tillage, husbandry |
| 3 | Latin | cultus | tilled, cultivated, having been cultivated;... |
| 4 | Latin | colere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 5 | Latin | colo | I till, cultivate the land; I inhabit; I protect,... |
| 6 | Latin | quelo | — |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | kʷelō | to inhabit |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷéleti | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷel- | to turn |