Where does “libelous” come from?
Libelous comes from Old French libelle, from Latin libellus meaning a small book or written document, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European lewbʰ- meaning to peel or strip.
libelous (English): defamatory, libeling, referring to something that...
Definitions
- defamatory, libeling, referring to something that...
Ancestry of “libelous”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | libel | A written or pictorial false statement which... |
| 2 | Middle English | libel | Any short and formal written text |
| 3 | Old French | libelle | — |
| 4 | Latin | libellus | a little book, booklet, pamphlet; a billet,... |
| 5 | Latin | Līber | — |
| 6 | Old Latin | loeber | — |
| 7 | French | lober | to lob |
| 8 | French | lob | lob |
| 9 | English | lob | To throw or hit a ball into the air in a high... |
| 10 | English | long | Having much distance from one terminating point... |
| 11 | English | longitude | Angular distance measured west or east of the... |
| 12 | Old French | longitude | — |
| 13 | Latin | longitūdō | length, longitude; longness |
| 14 | Latin | longus | far, long; extended, prolonged; long; tedious,... |
| 15 | Latin | -ē | ly; used to form adverbs from adjectives |
| 16 | Latin | dis- | asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;... |
| 17 | Latin | calceus | shoe |
| 18 | Latin | calx | limestone; chalk; the finish line |