Where does “gondolier” come from?
Gondolier comes from Italian gondoliere, from Italian gondola, from Venetian góndoła, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ḱent- meaning to prick or pierce, through Ancient Greek κεντέω and Latin -arius and -are.
gondolier (English): A Venetian boatman who propels a gondola
Definitions
- A Venetian boatman who propels a gondola
Ancestry of “gondolier”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italian | gondoliere | gondolier |
| 2 | Italian | gondola | gondola; nacelle; pod |
| 3 | Venetian | góndoła | gondola |
| 4 | Greek | κοντούρα | the finish of a design; outline |
| 5 | Italian | contorno | contour, outline; vegetables; first-person... |
| 6 | French | contour | contour |
| 7 | French | contourner | to circumvent, to bypass, to skirt around; to... |
| 8 | Vulgar Latin | contornare | — |
| 9 | Latin | cum | with, along with; at; -fold |
| 10 | Old Latin | com | Alternative form of cum |
| 11 | Proto-Italic | kom | with, along, at |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 14 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 15 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 16 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 17 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 18 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |