Where does “plaint” come from?
Plaint comes from Anglo-Norman plainte, from Latin planctus (a beating or lamentation), derived from plango (to strike or beat), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European plak-.
plaint (English): A lament or woeful cry; A complaint; A sad song
Definitions
- A lament or woeful cry; A complaint; A sad song
Ancestry of “plaint”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | plainte | — |
| 2 | Old French | pleinte | lament; complaint |
| 3 | Latin | plancta | nominative feminine singular of plānctus;... |
| 4 | Latin | planctus | struck, beaten; bewailed, lamented, mourned;... |
| 5 | Latin | -tus | Forms the past participle of verbs; Forms... |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -tus | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -tus | Derives action nouns from verb roots |