Where does “great grandmaster” come from?

great grandmaster (English) comes from English Grandmaster, from English Master, from English Mast, from French masse, from Old French mace, from Vulgar Latin mattia, from Latin mateola, from Latin -ulus — Forms agent nouns from verbal roots.

great grandmaster (English): A grandmaster, in some field, whose skills or...

Definitions

  1. A grandmaster, in some field, whose skills or...

Ancestry of “great grandmaster”, step by step

great grandmaster traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English Grandmaster

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishGrandmasterA player of the highest rank, as determined by...
2EnglishMasterPrepended to a boy's name or surname as a form...
3EnglishMast
4Frenchmassea paste, a dough; large amount or quantity of...
5Old Frenchmacemace weapon
6Vulgar Latinmattia
7LatinmateolaThe meaning of this term is uncertain....
8Latin-ulusUsed to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating...
9Proto-Italic-olos
10Proto-Italic-elosForms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns
11Proto-Indo-European-e-lós
12Proto-Indo-European-lósForms agent nouns from verbal roots

via English Great

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishGreatTaking much space; large
2Middle Englishgretegreat; massive; amazing
3Old Englishgrēatgreat, large; big, thick, coarse, massive
4Proto-West Germanicgraut
5Proto-Germanicgrautazcoarse, crude; big, large
6Proto-Indo-Europeanǵʰer-to yearn for; to enclose; bowels, intestines
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -lósEvery word from Latin -ulusEvery word from Latin mateola
great grandmaster — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer