Where does “mainmast” come from?
Mainmast comes from English main and mast, where main derives from French main (hand), from Latin manus (hand), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European man- (hand).
mainmast (English): The chief, and tallest mast of a sailing ship...
Definitions
- The chief, and tallest mast of a sailing ship...
Ancestry of “mainmast”, step by step
mainmast traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English Mast
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Mast | — |
| 2 | French | masse | a paste, a dough; large amount or quantity of... |
| 3 | Old French | mace | mace weapon |
| 4 | Vulgar Latin | mattia | — |
| 5 | Latin | mateola | The meaning of this term is uncertain.... |
| 6 | Latin | -ulus | Used to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -olos | — |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -elos | Forms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |