Where does “middle passage” come from?
middle passage (English) comes from English passage, from French passager, from French passage, from French passer, from Middle French passer, from Old French passer, from Vulgar Latin passare, from Latin passus — to hate, hurt.
middle passage (English): A middle way, especially between two extremes; an...
Definitions
- A middle way, especially between two extremes; an...
Ancestry of “middle passage”, step by step
middle passage traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English passage
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | passage | Describing a bird that has left the nest, is... |
| 2 | French | passager | Passenger; Traveller; Whose presence in a... |
| 3 | French | passage | The act of going through a place or event; The... |
| 4 | French | passer | to go past; to cross; to pass |
| 5 | Middle French | passer | to pass; to go by |
| 6 | Old French | passer | to pass; to pass by |
| 7 | Vulgar Latin | passare | to walk, pass; step, walk, pass; present active... |
| 8 | Latin | passus | spread out; dried; step |
| 9 | Latin | patior | I suffer, endure; I allow, acquiesce, permit,... |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | peh₁- | to hate, hurt |
via English middle
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | middle | A centre, midpoint; The part between the... |
| 2 | Middle English | myddel | The middle or centre of something |
| 3 | Old English | middel | middle |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | *midl | — |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | midlą | middle |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | midjō | middle, midst |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | médʰyos | middle |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | medʰi- | with, among; with, along |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | me | in the middle of, near, by, around, with |