Where does “graveyard” come from?
Graveyard derives from English grave (burial place) and yard (enclosed area), with grave coming from Middle French grave, Latin gravis (heavy), and ultimately Proto-Indo-European ǵʰer- (to grasp or enclose).
graveyard (English): A tract of land in which the dead are buried; A...
Definitions
- A tract of land in which the dead are buried; A...
Ancestry of “graveyard”, step by step
graveyard traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English Yard
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Yard | Scotland Yard or New Scotland Yard |
| 2 | English | milliard | 10, a thousand million |
| 3 | French | milliard | A milliard |
| 4 | French | million | million, 10 |
| 5 | Middle French | million | million, 10 |
| 6 | Old French | millon | — |
| 7 | Italian | milione | million |
| 8 | Italian | mille | thousand |
| 9 | Latin | Mīlle | thousand; 1000 |
| 10 | Proto-Italic | smīɣeslī | thousand |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | smih₂ǵʰéslih₂ | — |
via English grave
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | grave | An excavation in the earth as a place of burial;... |
| 2 | French | gravier | gravel; crushed rocks between 5 and 40 mm in... |
| 3 | Old French | gravé | gravel |
| 4 | Medieval Latin | grava | — |
| 5 | Gaulish | grawa | — |
| 6 | Proto-Celtic | grāwā | gravel, pebbles |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | gʰroh₁weh₂ | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | gʰreh₁w- | to grind |