Where does “meetinghouse” come from?
Meetinghouse derives from English meet and English house, built on Middle English -en (verbal suffix) and Middle English -en (nominal suffix), tracing through Latin meta and Proto-Indo-European med- meaning to measure or consider.
meetinghouse (English): A building where people meet for a purpose; A...
Definitions
- A building where people meet for a purpose; A...
Ancestry of “meetinghouse”, step by step
meetinghouse traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English meeting
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | meeting | The act of persons or things that meet; A... |
| 2 | Middle English | meeting | — |
| 3 | Old English | mēting | picture: drawing, painting |
| 4 | Old English | mētan | to meet, find, find out, fall in with, encounter,... |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | mōtijan | to meet |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | mōtijaną | to meet, encounter |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | mōtą | meeting |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | meh₂d- | to be wet, to become wet; to meet, approach,... |
via English House
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | House | A particular chamber of political representation |
| 2 | Middle English | hous | house, residence; house of worship, temple;... |
| 3 | Old English | hūs | dwelling, shelter, house; house |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | hūs | house |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | hūsą | house |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)kewH- | to cover, bedeck; cover |