Where does “officeholder” come from?
officeholder (English) comes from English Office, from Middle English office, from Old French office, from Latin officium, from Latin opificium, from Latin opifex, from Latin Ops, from Latin oscen — to throw, reach, pierce; to hit by throwing.
officeholder (English): A person who holds an office, especially one...
Definitions
- A person who holds an office, especially one...
Ancestry of “officeholder”, step by step
officeholder traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English Office
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Office | A ceremonial duty or service, particularly |
| 2 | Middle English | office | The state of being employed or having a work or... |
| 3 | Old French | office | office; service |
| 4 | Latin | officium | duty, service; office; obligation, an obligatory... |
| 5 | Latin | opificium | work |
| 6 | Latin | opifex | Someone who does work (especially creative or constructive); worker, maker, framer, fabricator, workman, mechanic, artificer, craftsman, inventor, artist, artisan |
| 7 | Latin | Ops | earth goddess, fertility deity |
| 8 | Latin | oscen | any bird by whose song cries augurs divined... |
| 9 | Latin | opscen | — |
| 10 | Latin | ob- | towards; against |
| 11 | Latin | obolus | obolus (Greek coin) |
| 12 | Ancient Greek | ὀβολός | obol, obolus, used at Athens as both a weight and... |
| 13 | Ancient Greek | ὀβελός | a spit, rod; a horizontal line |
| 14 | Ancient Greek | βέλος | missile, arrow, dart; weapon; something quickly... |
| 15 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷélHos | — |
| 16 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷelH- | to throw, reach, pierce; to hit by throwing |
via English Hölder
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Hölder | A thing that holds |
| 2 | English | -er | A person or thing that does an action indicated... |
| 3 | Middle English | -er | agentive suffix; agent noun suffix |
| 4 | Old French | -er | Alternative form of -ier, verbal suffix;... |
| 5 | Latin | -āre | first conjugation |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -āō | Forms primarily denominative verbs |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -eh₂yéti | Creates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 10 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |