Where does “flamethrower” come from?
flamethrower (English) comes from English flame, from Middle English flawme, from Middle English flaume, from Old French flamble, from Latin flammula, from Latin flamma, from Latin flāgrāre, from Latin frāgrō — to smell.
flamethrower (English): A device that projects a flame for starting fires, and sometimes also additional fuel to help ignition. Used either as a weapon or a tool
Definitions
- A device that projects a flame for starting fires, and sometimes also additional fuel to help ignition. Used either as a weapon or a tool
Ancestry of “flamethrower”, step by step
flamethrower traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via English flame
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | flame | The visible part of fire; a stream of burning... |
| 2 | Middle English | flawme | A flame; a visible tongue of gas and vapour... |
| 3 | Middle English | flaume | Alternative form of flawme; Alternative form of... |
| 4 | Old French | flamble | — |
| 5 | Latin | flammula | a little flame |
| 6 | Latin | flamma | flame, fire |
| 7 | Latin | flāgrāre | — |
| 8 | Latin | frāgrō | to emit a smell of, to smell of, to be redolent of, to reek of |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | frāgrāō | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰreh₂gro- | — |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰreh₂g- | to smell |
via English thrower
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | thrower | Someone who throws; Something that throws; One... |
| 2 | English | -er | A person or thing that does an action indicated... |
| 3 | Middle English | -er | agentive suffix; agent noun suffix |
| 4 | Old French | -er | Alternative form of -ier, verbal suffix;... |
| 5 | Latin | -āre | first conjugation |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -āō | Forms primarily denominative verbs |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -eh₂yéti | Creates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 10 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |
via German Flammenwerfer
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | German | Flammenwerfer | flamethrower; blowlamp; flame gun |
| 2 | German | -er | Forms agent nouns etc. from verbs, suffixed to... |
| 3 | Old High German | -āri | used to form agent nouns |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | -ārī | -er |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | -ārijaz | -er |
| 6 | Latin | -ārius | er |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | *-āzios | Forms relational adjectives to nouns (and rarely numerals) |