Where does “gerrymandering” come from?
Gerrymandering comes from English gerry, a nickname for Elbridge Gerry, an 18th-century Massachusetts governor whose administration created an oddly shaped electoral district.
gerrymandering (English): The practice of redrawing electoral districts to...
Definitions
- The practice of redrawing electoral districts to...
Ancestry of “gerrymandering”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | gerrymander | To divide a geographic area into voting districts... |
| 2 | English | salamander | A long, slender, chiefly terrestrial amphibian of... |
| 3 | Middle English | salamandre | — |
| 4 | Old French | salamandre | salamander |
| 5 | Latin | salamandra | salamander |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | σαλαμάνδρα | fire salamander |
| 7 | Persian | سمندر | salamander; a mythological fire-dwelling creature... |
| 8 | Persian | سام | fire; flame; swell, swelling |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-Iranian | ćyaHmás | black |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱyeh₁-mó-s | black, dark |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)ḱeh₃- | darkness, shadow |