Where does “forty legs” come from?

forty legs (English) comes from English forty, from English Y, from English yuri, from Japanese 百合, from Japanese 連用形, from Japanese 見る, from Japanese 夢, from Old Japanese 夢.

forty legs (English): A centipede

Definitions

  1. A centipede

Ancestry of “forty legs”, step by step

forty legs traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English forty

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishfortyThe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine...
2EnglishYA figure or mark in the shape of the letter Y; A...
3EnglishyuriA narrative or visual work featuring a romance or...
4Japanese百合lily
5Japanese連用形an inflectional category: the continuative or...
6Japanese見るto see, to watch, to observe, to look at...
7Japanesea dream; a vision; leaving reality to the state...
8Old Japanesea dream
9Japanesean order in biology: smaller than a class, bigger...
10Middle Chinese

via English legs

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Englishlegsplural of leg; eleven; viscous streaks left on...
2EnglishlegA limb or appendage that an animal uses for...
3Middle Englishlegleg, limb; shank, shin; leg
4Old Norseleggrleg, stem
5Proto-Germaniclagjazleg, thigh
6Proto-Indo-European(ǝ)lak-

Words derived from “forty legs

Every word from Middle Chinese
forty legs — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer