Where does “on pain of” come from?
on pain of (English) comes from English pain, from English -ite, from French -ité, from Latin -īta, from Ancient Greek -ίτης, from Ancient Greek πολῑ́της, from Ancient Greek -της, from Proto-Hellenic -tāts — Creates verbal adjectives from verb stems.
on pain of (English): subject to the punishment of (some penalty); or subject to the circumstance of (some thing)
Definitions
- subject to the punishment of (some penalty); or subject to the circumstance of (some thing)
Ancestry of “on pain of”, step by step
on pain of traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via English pain
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | pain | An ache or bodily suffering, or an instance of... |
| 2 | English | -ite | Used to form nouns denoting followers or... |
| 3 | French | -ité | Alternative form of -té, giving a quality or... |
| 4 | Latin | -īta | — |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | -ίτης | Suffix forming a masculine noun: one connected... |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | πολῑ́της | citizen |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | -της | Forms nouns representing a state of being; Added... |
| 8 | Proto-Hellenic | -tāts | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -teh₂ts | Used to form nouns representing state of being |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -teh₂ | Used to form nouns representing state of being |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | -tós | Creates verbal adjectives from verb stems |