Where does “mutual” come from?
Mutual comes from Middle French mutuel, from Latin mutuus meaning reciprocal or borrowed, derived from moveo meaning to move, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European mew-.
mutual (English): Having the same relationship, each to each other;...
Definitions
- Having the same relationship, each to each other;...
Ancestry of “mutual”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle French | mutuel | mutual |
| 2 | Latin | mūtuus | borrowed, lent |
| 3 | Latin | muto | I move, remove; I alter, change, modify,... |
| 4 | Latin | -ium | Suffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes... |
| 5 | Latin | -ius | forming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter... |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -jōs | Forms comparative adjectives |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |