Where does “email” come from?
Email derives from Old French esmal, from Frankish smalt, from Proto-Indo-European (s)meld-.
email (English): A system for transferring messages from one...
Definitions
- A system for transferring messages from one...
Ancestry of “email”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle French | email | — |
| 2 | Old French | esmal | enamel |
| 3 | Latin | smaltum | enamel |
| 4 | Frankish | smalt | melted fat; fat, lard; oil, semi-liquid fat |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | smeltaną | to melt |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)meld- | to soften, to melt |
Words derived from “email”