Where does “potluck” come from?
Potluck comes from English pot and luck, with pot deriving from Middle English pot, Old French pot, and Middle Dutch pote, whose ultimate origin remains uncertain.
potluck (English): A meal, especially one offered to a guest,...
Definitions
- A meal, especially one offered to a guest,...
Ancestry of “potluck”, step by step
potluck traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English pot
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | pot | A flat-bottomed vessel used for cooking food;... |
| 2 | Middle English | pot | A pot; a circular receptacle or vessel; The top... |
| 3 | Old French | pot | pot; third-person singular present indicative of... |
| 4 | Vulgar Latin | pottum | — |
| 5 | Frankish | *pott | — |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | puttaz | pot, jar, tub |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | budn- | a kind of vessel; type of vessel; a type of... |