Where does “gruesome” come from?

gruesome (English) comes from English -some, from Middle English -som, from Old English sum, from Proto-West Germanic *sum, from Proto-Germanic sumaz, from Proto-Indo-European sem- — together, one.

gruesome (English): Repellently frightful and shocking; horrific or...

Definitions

  1. Repellently frightful and shocking; horrific or...

Ancestry of “gruesome”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-someCharacterized by some specific condition or...
2Middle English-somsome; having a specific quality
3Old Englishsumsome
4Proto-West Germanic*sumsome
5Proto-Germanicsumazsome (one), a certain (one)
6Proto-Indo-Europeansem-together, one

Words derived from “gruesome”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European sem- →Every word from Proto-Germanic sumaz →Every word from Proto-West Germanic *sum →