Where does “documentary” come from?
Documentary comes from French documentaire, formed with the French suffix -aire from Latin -arium, which derives from Latin -mentum and -menta, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root deḱ-.
documentary (English): Of, related to, or based on documents; Which...
Definitions
- Of, related to, or based on documents; Which...
Ancestry of “documentary”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | documentaire | documentary |
| 2 | French | document | document; file |
| 3 | Italian | documento | document; first-person singular present... |
| 4 | Latin | documentum | lesson; instruction; warning |
| 5 | Latin | -mentum | instrument, medium, or result of; e.g.... |
| 6 | Latin | -menta | nominative plural of -mentum; accusative plural... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -mn̥ | Creates action nouns or result nouns from verbs |