Where does “locomotive” come from?
Locomotive comes from French locomotif, from Latin loco (ablative of locus, meaning place), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European stel-, meaning to place or set.
locomotive (English): The power unit of a train that pulls the coaches...
Definitions
- The power unit of a train that pulls the coaches...
Ancestry of “locomotive”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | locomotif | locomotive |
| 2 | Vulgar Latin | motivus | moving; stirred; moved |
| 3 | Latin | motus | moved, stirred, disturbed, having been moved;... |
| 4 | Latin | movere | present active infinitive of moveō; second-person... |
| 5 | Latin | moveo | I move, stir, set in motion; I disturb, shake,... |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | moweō | to move |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | mew- | to move |