Where does “cumbersome” come from?
Cumbersome comes from English cumber and English some, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European sem- meaning one or together.
cumbersome (English): Burdensome or hindering, as a weight or drag;...
Definitions
- Burdensome or hindering, as a weight or drag;...
Ancestry of “cumbersome”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | cumber | To slow down; to hinder; to burden; to encumber |
| 2 | Middle English | combren | — |
| 3 | Old French | encombrer | to bother; to irritate; to annoy; to burden |
| 4 | Old French | combre | wooden obstacles on a river; dam; hindrance,... |
| 5 | Medieval Latin | combrus | barricade of felled trees; barricade |
| 6 | Gaulish | komberū | — |
| 7 | Proto-Celtic | kombereti | to bring together |
| 8 | Proto-Celtic | kom- | with, together |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 11 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 12 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 13 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 14 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 15 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 16 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 17 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |