Where does “desert” come from?
Desert comes from French déserter, from Old French desert, from Latin desertus meaning "abandoned," derived from Latin deservire meaning "to abandon."
desert (English): That which is deserved or merited; a just...
Definitions
- That which is deserved or merited; a just...
Ancestry of “desert”, step by step
desert traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English desert
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | desert | The situation of deserving something; That which... |
| 2 | Old French | desert | desert (desolate terrain) |
| 3 | Latin | dēsertum | a desert, wasteland |
| 4 | Latin | dēsertus | deserted, abandoned, forsaken; having been deserted, etc |
| 5 | Latin | dēserō | to leave, depart, desert, quit |
| 6 | Latin | dē- | of; from |
| 7 | Latin | dē | of; concerning; about |
| 8 | Latin | post | behind; after, since, besides, except; behind,... |
| 9 | Latin | poste | ablative singular of postis |
| 10 | Proto-Italic | posti | behind, after |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | pósti | after |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | pós | afterwards, post; by, at |