Where does “fly” come from?
Fly comes from Middle English flien, from Old English flȳġe, from Proto-Germanic fleuganą, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European plew-, a root meaning to flow or move swiftly.
fly (English): Any insect of the order Diptera; characterized by...
Definitions
- Any insect of the order Diptera; characterized by...
Ancestry of “fly”, step by step
fly traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English flien
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | flien | To fly; to travel in the air; To move in the sky;... |
| 2 | Old English | flēogan | to fly |
| 3 | Old English | -ende | equivalent of English -ing; suffix for present... |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | *-andī | — |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | -andz | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -ónts | Derives nouns denoting body parts |
| 7 | Hungarian | önt | to pour; to cast; accusative singular of ön |
| 8 | Hungarian | ön | you |
| 9 | Hungarian | ön- | self- |
| 10 | Turkish | ön | front |
| 11 | Ottoman Turkish | اوك | voice (of human or animal); sound |
| 12 | Proto-Turkic | ǖn | sound, voice |