Where does “drumbeat” come from?
I can't write this etymology because the chain provided only contains English and cycles through the same two words (beat/beatnik) without showing any language progression or origin point. A valid etymology requires tracing back through different languages to an ultimate source, which this chain doesn't provide. Could you supply the actual etymological chain showing the progression through earlier languages?
drumbeat (English): The beating of a drum; The sound of a beating...
Definitions
- The beating of a drum; The sound of a beating...
Ancestry of “drumbeat”, step by step
drumbeat traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English drum
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | drum | A percussive musical instrument spanned with a... |
| 2 | English | drumslade | A drum; A drummer |
| 3 | Middle Dutch | trommelslach | drumbeat |
| 4 | Middle Dutch | slach | beat |
| 5 | Old Dutch | slag | setback, misfortune |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | slagi | blow, strike |
| 7 | Swedish | slagg | slag metallurgical waste material |
| 8 | Low German | slagge | — |
| 9 | Middle Low German | slagge | — |
| 10 | Middle Low German | slān | to hit, strike |
| 11 | Old Saxon | slāhan | to hit |
| 12 | Proto-West Germanic | slahan | to hit, to strike; to kill |
| 13 | Proto-Germanic | slahaną | to hit, to strike; to kill |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | slak- | to hit; strike; to hit, strike, throw; to hit,... |
via English beat
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | beat | A stroke; a blow; A pulsation or throb; A pulse... |
| 2 | Middle English | beten | To beat; to repeatedly strike or hit |
| 3 | Old English | bēatan | to thrash, beat; to beat, pound, strike, lash,... |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | bautan | to beat |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | bautaną | to beat, push |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰewd- | to hit, strike; to beat, push; to strike, push,... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰew- | to grow, swell; to swell, wax, grow; to blow; to... |