Where does “plume” come from?
Plume comes from Middle English plume, from Old French plume, from Latin pluma meaning feather, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European plew- meaning to flow or spread.
plume (English): A feather of a bird, especially a large or showy...
Definitions
- A feather of a bird, especially a large or showy...
Ancestry of “plume”, step by step
plume traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English plum
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | plum | Alternative form of plomme |
| 2 | Middle English | plomme | plum; plum tree |
| 3 | Middle English | plumtre | A plum tree or a similar tree |
| 4 | Old English | plumtreow | plum tree |
| 5 | Old English | trēow | tree, wood, timber, beam, log, stake, stick,... |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | treu | tree; wood |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | trewą | tree |
| 8 | English | doru | Alternative form of dory |
| 9 | Ancient Greek | δόρυ | wood, tree, stem; spear shaft, spear, lance,... |
| 10 | Proto-Hellenic | dóru | tree |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | dóru | tree |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | drew- | hard, firm, strong, solid; hard, fast; tree |
via Middle English plume
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | plume | feather; plumage |