Where does “nonfatal” come from?
I need to flag an issue with this chain before providing an answer.
The chain provided has internal inconsistencies that prevent me from writing an accurate etymology:
1. "Latin nonus" (meaning "ninth") doesn't connect to "nonfatal" — the prefix "non-" means "not," not "ninth"
2. "Latin novem" (nine) and "Latin nonus" (ninth) are different words with different etymologies
3. The chain conflates the etymology of "nine" with the etymology of "fatal"
4. Proto-Indo-European h₁néwn̥ and bʰeh₂- are unrelated roots
For "nonfatal," the actual chain should be:
English nonfatal | English non- + fatal | Latin fatālis (from fātum, "fate") + Latin nōn (not)
I cannot write the requested sentence because the
nonfatal (English): Not fatal; from which death will not result; An...
Definitions
- Not fatal; from which death will not result; An...
Ancestry of “nonfatal”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | non- | Used in the sense of no or none, to show lack of... |
| 2 | Latin | nōnus | — |
| 3 | Latin | novenos | accusative masculine plural of novēnus |
| 4 | Latin | novem | nine; 9; first-person singular present active... |
| 5 | Latin | novo | I make new, renew, refresh; I alter, change;... |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | nowāō | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | néweh₂ti | to renew |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | néwos | new |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | new- | new; to nod, assent to |