Where does “playing” come from?
Playing comes from Middle English playen, derived from Latin placēre, meaning to please or be agreeable, which underwent semantic shift to mean engaging in activity for enjoyment.
playing (English): An occasion on which something, such as a song or...
Definitions
- An occasion on which something, such as a song or...
Ancestry of “playing”, step by step
playing traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English playing
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | playing | playing, having fun, entertainment, revelry; The... |
| 2 | Middle English | pleyen | To entertain; to play or engage in recreation or... |
| 3 | Middle English | -en | Denotes the past participle form when attached to... |
| 4 | Old English | -en | mæġþ + API → mæġden; cocc + API → cycen, cicen;... |
| 5 | Old Norse | -inn | Used to create adjectives from nouns, meaning... |
| 6 | Proto-Norse | -īna- | — |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | -īnaz | -en |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -iHnos | Creates adjectives of materials |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -no- | adjectival suffix |
via English play
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | play | To act in a manner such that one has fun; to... |
| 2 | Middle English | pleye | Happiness, mirth, jolliness, or gaiety; Fun,... |
| 3 | Old English | pleġa | exercise |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | plegō | care; an exercise; a game |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | -ō | Creates adverbs from adjectives; Creates agent... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -ô | -ly; Forms agent nouns, often from the zero-grade... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -ō | Derives nouns from roots |