Where does “otherworldly” come from?
Otherworldly derives from English otherworld plus the Middle English adjectival suffix -ly, from Old English -līċ (resembling), from Proto-Germanic -līkaz and galīkaz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European līg- and ḱóm.
otherworldly (English): Of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a...
Definitions
- Of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a...
Ancestry of “otherworldly”, step by step
otherworldly traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English other
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | other | See "other" below; Second; Alien |
| 2 | English | kin | Race; family; breed; kind; Persons of the same... |
| 3 | English | fictionkin | An individual whose personal identity is based in fiction of some kind: a fictional character, a fictional race or species, etc |
| 4 | English | fiction | Literary type using invented or imaginative... |
| 5 | Middle English | ficcioun | An invention or fabrication |
| 6 | Old French | ficcion | dissimulation, ruse, invention |
| 7 | Latin | fictio | fashioning, forming, formation; fiction |
| 8 | Latin | -tiō | tion, -ation, -ing |
| 9 | Latin | dissertātiō | (spoken) dissertation, discourse, disquisition |
| 10 | Latin | dissertus | arranged, disposed; explained |
| 11 | Latin | disserere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 12 | Latin | dis- | asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;... |
| 13 | Latin | calceus | shoe |
| 14 | Latin | calx | limestone; chalk; the finish line |
via English World
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | World | The specific world, or any of several specific constituent worlds, that humans live in, among any other (real or possible) worlds |
| 2 | Middle English | world | The world, the planet; A dimension, realm, or... |
| 3 | Old English | weorold | world |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | weraldi | world |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | weraldiz | lifetime, worldly existence; mankind; world |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | weraz | man; husband |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | wiHrós | man; husband; warrior, hero |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | weyh₁- | to chase, pursue; to suppress, persecute |