Where does “headstone” come from?
Headstone comes from Middle English hedston, combining head and stone, with stone deriving from Old English stān and ultimately Proto-Indo-European steh₂-, meaning to stand or be firm.
headstone (English): A gravestone, a grave marker: a monument...
Definitions
- A gravestone, a grave marker: a monument...
Ancestry of “headstone”, step by step
headstone traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English head
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | head | The part of the body of an animal or human which... |
| 2 | English | -y | Added to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives... |
| 3 | Middle English | -y | Designates an adjective, in many cases formed by... |
| 4 | Old English | -iġ | -y, -ic |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | -g | Forms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -gaz | -y |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -ḱos | -y, -ic |
via English Stone
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Stone | for someone who lived near a stone worked with stone, from |
| 2 | Middle English | ston | Alternative form of stone |
| 3 | Old English | stān | stone, rock |
| 4 | Old Norse | Veggr | name of a dwarf |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | wajjuz | wall |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | wh̥₁yús | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | weh₁y- | to twist, wind, weave, plait; to wrap, enclose,... |