Where does “overawful” come from?
overawful (English) comes from English awful, from Middle English agheful, from Middle English -ful, from Old English -ful, from Proto-Germanic -fullaz, from Proto-Germanic fullaz, from Proto-Indo-European pl̥h₁nós, from Proto-Indo-European pleh₁- — to fill.
overawful (English): Excessively awful
Ancestry of “overawful”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | awful | Very bad; Exceedingly great; usually applied... |
| 2 | Middle English | agheful | awe-inspiring, wondrous; awful, horrible |
| 3 | Middle English | -ful | Appended to nouns to form adjectives denoting... |
| 4 | Old English | -ful | full of; -ful |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | -fullaz | -ful |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | fullaz | full; the whole, the entire |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | pl̥h₁nós | full |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | pleh₁- | to fill |