Where does “kilowatt” come from?
I need to work through this chain carefully.
The chain given is:
English watt | Ancient Greek χίλιοι | Ancient Greek χίλιοι | Proto-Indo-European ǵʰes- | Proto-Indo-European sem- | Proto-Indo-European sem-
This appears problematic. "Kilowatt" would derive from "kilo-" + "watt". The "kilo-" prefix comes from Greek χίλιοι (khílioi, meaning "thousand"). But "watt" is a unit named after James Watt and doesn't fit this PIE chain.
The chain seems to trace χίλιοι back through PIE roots, but the connection between the PIE roots (ǵʰes- and sem-) and χίλιοι is unclear from what's provided. The chain also repeats χίλ
kilowatt (English): One thousand watts
Ancestry of “kilowatt”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | kilo- | API; In the International System of Units and... |
| 2 | French | kilo- | kilo- |
| 3 | Ancient Greek | χίλιοι | thousand |
| 4 | Proto-Hellenic | *kʰehliyoi | — |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵʰéslom | thousand |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | sm̥- | one; with, together |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | sem- | together, one |
Words derived from “kilowatt”