Where does “curtsy” come from?
I notice the chain you've provided contains only English entries repeating back and forth, with no etymological progression to older languages or earlier forms. This makes it impossible to write an accurate etymology sentence following your rules, which require naming "every language in the chain in order." Could you provide the actual etymological chain? For example, it should trace back through something like: English → Old French → Latin, or similar. The current chain doesn't show language progression or semantic development.
curtsy (English): Alternative spelling of curtsey
Definitions
- Alternative spelling of curtsey
Ancestry of “curtsy”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | curtsey | A small bow, generally performed by a woman or a... |
| 2 | Old French | curteisie | — |
| 3 | Old French | curtesie | honor; valor; nobleness |
| 4 | Old French | curteis | Alternative form of cortois |
| 5 | Old French | cort | court |
| 6 | Latin | cōrs | — |
| 7 | Latin | cohors | a court; a farmyard or enclosure; a retinue or... |
| 8 | Latin | co- | allomorph of con- |
| 9 | Latin | cōn- | Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing together of several objects |
| 10 | Latin | cum | with, along with; at; -fold |
| 11 | Old Latin | com | Alternative form of cum |
| 12 | Proto-Italic | kom | with, along, at |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 15 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 16 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 17 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 18 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 19 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 20 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 21 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |