Where does “file handle” come from?

file handle (English) comes from English handle, from Middle English handel, from Old English handle, from Old English handlian, from Proto-West Germanic handulōn, from Proto-Germanic handlōną, from Proto-Germanic handuz — hand.

file handle (English): The descriptor used to access a file in a file...

Definitions

  1. The descriptor used to access a file in a file...

Ancestry of “file handle”, step by step

file handle traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English handle

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishhandleThe part of an object which is held in the hand...
2Middle Englishhandel
3Old Englishhandlea handle
4Old Englishhandlianto handle
5Proto-West Germanichandulōnto handle
6Proto-Germanichandlōnąto take or hold in the hand, seize, grip
7Proto-Germanichanduzhand

via English filé

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishfiléA spicy herb made from the dried and ground...
2Frenchfilépast participle of filer; simple or twisted...
3Frenchfilerto spin; to thread through; to spin a thread
4Latinfīlāre
5Latinfīlumthread, string, filament, fiber
6Proto-Italicfī(s)lom
7Proto-Indo-EuropeangʷʰiH-(s-)lo-
Every word from Proto-Germanic handuzEvery word from Proto-Germanic handlōnąEvery word from Proto-West Germanic handulōn