Where does “devastatingly” come from?
Devastatingly comes from English devastate, from Latin devastatus (past participle of devasto, meaning to lay waste), from Latin de- (prefix meaning away) and an unattested root.
devastatingly (English): In a devastating manner
Ancestry of “devastatingly”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | devastating | causing devastation; present participle of... |
| 2 | English | devastate | To ruin many or all things over a large area,... |
| 3 | Latin | dēvastātus | — |
| 4 | Latin | dēvastō | — |
| 5 | Latin | dē- | — |
| 6 | Latin | dē | — |
| 7 | Latin | post | behind; after, since, besides, except; behind,... |
| 8 | Latin | poste | ablative singular of postis |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | posti | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | pósti | — |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | pós | afterwards, post; by, at |