Where does “midmorning” come from?
Midmorning is a compound of mid- and morning, with morning deriving from Middle English morwenyng, formed with the suffix -ing ultimately from Proto-Germanic -ungō.
midmorning (English): The middle of the morning
Definitions
- The middle of the morning
Ancestry of “midmorning”, step by step
midmorning traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English morning
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | morning | The part of the day from dawn to noon; The part... |
| 2 | Middle English | morwenyng | morning |
| 3 | Middle English | -ing | Forms gerunds from verbs, typically referring to... |
| 4 | Old English | -ing | Forming nouns from verbs, indicating action,... |
| 5 | Old English | -tūn | homestead, village, town |
| 6 | Old English | tūn | enclosure, yard; place; dwelling |
| 7 | Proto-West Germanic | tūn | fence |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | tūną | fence; enclosure |
| 9 | Gaulish | dunum | fort; hill, hillfort |
| 10 | Proto-Celtic | dūnom | stronghold, rampart |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | dʰewh₂- | smoke; mist, haze |
via English MID
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | MID | Initialism of mobile information device |
| 2 | English | mid-range | Of a central or halfway point |
| 3 | English | range | A line or series of mountains, buildings, etc; A... |
| 4 | Middle English | rengen | — |
| 5 | Old French | rengier | to line up; to form ranks |
| 6 | Old French | reng | place; position |
| 7 | Latin | rencus | row; order, rank |
| 8 | Gaulish | rekos | — |
| 9 | Proto-Celtic | reketi | to arrange |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | (H)rek- | to set in order |