Where does “his” come from?
His comes from Old English hē, from Proto-Germanic ahwō, from Proto-Indo-European h₂ekʷeh₂, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root ḱe-.
his (English): Belonging to him; Belonging to a person of...
Definitions
- Belonging to him; Belonging to a person of...
Ancestry of “his”, step by step
his traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English His
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | His | Honorific alternative letter-case form of his,... |
| 2 | Middle English | hes | Alternative form of his; Alternative form of heo |
| 3 | Old English | his | genitive of hē: his; genitive of hit: its; his;... |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | hes | genitive singular masculine/neuter of *hiz |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | *hiz | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 7 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 8 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 9 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 10 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 11 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |
via Middle English his
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | his | Third-person singular masculine genitive... |