Where does “motorist” come from?
Motorist derives from English motor combined with the Latin suffix -ista, from Latin moto, rooted in Ancient Greek -ίζω and Proto-Indo-European verbal forms expressing motion.
motorist (English): One who drives a motor vehicle
Definitions
- One who drives a motor vehicle
Ancestry of “motorist”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | motor | A machine or device that converts other energy... |
| 2 | Middle English | motour | — |
| 3 | Latin | motor | mover; that which moves something; first-person... |
| 4 | Latin | -tor | -er |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | -tōr | Forms agent nouns to verb stems |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -tōr | Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -tor-s | — |