Where does “pittance” come from?
Pittance comes from Old French pitance, from Medieval Latin pietantia, from Latin pietas meaning "dutiful conduct," from Proto-Italic pwījotāts.
pittance (English): A small allowance of food and drink; a scanty...
Definitions
- A small allowance of food and drink; a scanty...
Ancestry of “pittance”, step by step
pittance traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Old French pitance
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | pitance | — |
| 2 | Medieval Latin | pietantia | — |
| 3 | Latin | pietas | Dutiful conduct, sense of duty; Piety,... |
| 4 | Latin | pīus | — |
| 5 | Latin | -tās | ty, -dom, -hood, -ness, -ship |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -teh₂ts | Used to form nouns representing state of being |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -teh₂ | Used to form nouns representing state of being |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -tós | Creates verbal adjectives from verb stems |
via Old French pitence
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | pitence | — |