Where does “nightcrawler” come from?
nightcrawler (English) comes from English night, from Middle English nyght, from Middle English nighte, from Old English nyht, from Proto-West Germanic naht, from Proto-Germanic nahts, from Proto-Indo-European nókʷts, from Proto-Indo-European negʷ- — bare, naked.
nightcrawler (English): An earthworm of the species "Lumbricus...
Definitions
- An earthworm of the species "Lumbricus...
Ancestry of “nightcrawler”, step by step
nightcrawler traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English night
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | night | The period between sunset and sunrise, when a... |
| 2 | Middle English | nyght | Alternative form of nighte; Alternative form of... |
| 3 | Middle English | nighte | night |
| 4 | Old English | nyht | Alternative form of niht |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | naht | night |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | nahts | night |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | nókʷts | night |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | negʷ- | bare, naked |
via English crawler
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | crawler | A child who is able to creep using its hands and... |
| 2 | English | crawl | To creep; to move slowly on hands and knees, or... |
| 3 | Middle English | crawlen | to crawl |
| 4 | Old Norse | krafla | — |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | krablōną | — |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | krabbōną | to scratch, scrape |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | gerbʰ- | to carve |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ger- | to turn, bend, twist, wind; to tie, bind... |