Where does “midwifery” come from?
Midwifery comes from Middle English -erie, Anglo-Norman -erie, Latin -arius, and Proto-Indo-European -yós, a suffix forming agent nouns that became productive in Romance languages for occupational terms.
midwifery (English): The practice and science of being a midwife
Definitions
- The practice and science of being a midwife
Ancestry of “midwifery”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | midwife | A person, usually a woman, who is trained to... |
| 2 | English | -ery | Added to nouns to form other nouns meaning the... |
| 3 | French | -erie | denoting a shop selling a certain product;... |
| 4 | Old French | -erie | used to form feminine nouns |
| 5 | Old French | -ie | indicates a feminine noun, often an abstract one |
| 6 | Latin | -ia | Used to form a feminine abstract noun, usually... |
| 7 | Latin | -ius | forming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter... |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -jōs | Forms comparative adjectives |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |