Where does “personnel” come from?
Personnel comes from French personnel, derived from Latin personalis, an adjective formed from persono, ultimately from Latin sonus meaning sound.
personnel (English): Employees; office staff
Definitions
- Employees; office staff
Ancestry of “personnel”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | personnel | personal; staff, members of staff, personnel |
| 2 | Old French | personel | personal |
| 3 | Latin | persōnālis | personal; of or belonging to a person |
| 4 | Latin | persōna | mask |
| 5 | Etruscan | 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 | a mask; a masked individual, often performing in... |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | πρόσωπον | face, visage, countenance; front; mask |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | ὤψ | to the eye; in the face; eye |
| 8 | Proto-Hellenic | ókʷs | eye |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | h₃ókʷs | eye |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | h₃ekʷ- | to see; eye |