Where does “hummingbird” come from?
Hummingbird is a compound of English hum and English bird, with hum derived from Middle English humen, Old English humian, and the suffix -ing from Old English -ing, ultimately from Proto-Germanic -ungō.
hummingbird (English): Any of various small American birds in the family...
Definitions
- Any of various small American birds in the family...
Ancestry of “hummingbird”, step by step
hummingbird traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English humming
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | humming | present participle of hum; The sound of something... |
| 2 | English | -ing | Used to form gerunds, a type of verbal nouns,... |
| 3 | Old English | -ing | Forming nouns from verbs, indicating action,... |
| 4 | Old English | -tūn | homestead, village, town |
| 5 | Old English | tūn | enclosure, yard; place; dwelling |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | tūn | fence |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | tūną | fence; enclosure |
| 8 | Gaulish | dunum | fort; hill, hillfort |
| 9 | Proto-Celtic | dūnom | stronghold, rampart |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | dʰewh₂- | smoke; mist, haze |