Where does “paramount” come from?
Paramount comes from Old French par, combined with Latin ad montem, ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European men-, meaning to project or stand out.
paramount (English): Supreme; highest; chief; Of the highest...
Definitions
- Supreme; highest; chief; Of the highest...
Ancestry of “paramount”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anglo-Norman | paramont | — |
| 2 | Old French | par | by; via; because of; due to; by |
| 3 | Latin | per | through, by means of; throughout, during |
| 4 | Latin | Ad | toward, to |
| 5 | Latin | illic | he, she, it, yonder, that, overthere; in that... |
| 6 | Latin | ille | that; those; "; demonstrative pronoun "; that... |
| 7 | Latin | olle | Archaic form of ille |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | *olnos | that |