Where does “footnote” come from?
Footnote derives from English foot and note, where note comes from Italian nota, from Latin nota meaning "mark" or "written record," ultimately from Latin noscere meaning "to know."
footnote (English): A short piece of text, often numbered, placed at...
Definitions
- A short piece of text, often numbered, placed at...
Ancestry of “footnote”, step by step
footnote traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English foot
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | foot | A biological structure found in many animals that... |
| 2 | Middle English | fot | foot; The bottom, lower part or foundation of... |
| 3 | Old English | fōt | foot |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | fōt | foot |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | fōts | foot |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | pṓds | foot |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | póds | foot |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ped- | to walk, to step; to stumble, to fall |