Where does “lion” come from?
Lion comes from Middle English leon, from Old French lion, from Latin leo, from Ancient Greek λέων, ultimately related to Latin lego and Latin lex.
lion (English): A big cat, "Panthera leo", native to Africa,...
Definitions
- A big cat, "Panthera leo", native to Africa,...
Ancestry of “lion”, step by step
lion traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via French Lion
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | Lion | Leo (constellation) |
| 2 | Italian | Leone | Leo |
| 3 | Spanish | león | lion; antlion; a brave person |
| 4 | Latin | legiō | A legion |
| 5 | Latin | legō | to collect, gather, bring together, catch |
| 6 | Latin | lēx | a proposition or motion for a law made to the people by a magistrate, a bill |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | lēg- | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | leǵ-s | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | leǵ- | to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning to... |