Where does “earthquake” come from?
Earthquake comes from Middle English erthequake, a compound of erthe (earth) and quake (to shake).
earthquake (English): A shaking of the ground, caused by volcanic...
Definitions
- A shaking of the ground, caused by volcanic...
Ancestry of “earthquake”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | erthequake | An earthquake shaking of the ground |
| 2 | Middle English | erthe | Earth; the world; The Earth's people or... |
| 3 | Old English | eorþe | ground; the planet Earth; dirt |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | erþu | earth, world; earth, soil |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | erþō | earth |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁er- | earth |
Words derived from “earthquake”