Where does “privy” come from?
Privy comes from Middle English prive, from Old French privé, from Latin privatus, meaning "set apart or withdrawn," derived from Latin privo and Latin privus, both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European per.
privy (English): Private, exclusive; not public; one's own;...
Definitions
- Private, exclusive; not public; one's own;...
Ancestry of “privy”, step by step
privy traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English pryvy
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | pryvy | — |
| 2 | Old French | privé | private |
| 3 | Latin | prīvātus | bereaved, deprived, robbed or stripped of something, having been deprived of something |
| 4 | Latin | prīvō | to bereave, deprive, rob or strip of something |
| 5 | French | ferriprive | Suffering from a deficiency of iron |
| 6 | Latin | ferrum | iron; any tool made of iron; fight, clash |
| 7 | Cornish | -er | Forms masculine agent nouns |
| 8 | English | -er | A person or thing that does an action indicated... |
| 9 | Middle English | -er | agentive suffix; agent noun suffix |
| 10 | Old French | -er | Alternative form of -ier, verbal suffix;... |
| 11 | Latin | -āre | first conjugation |
| 12 | Proto-Italic | -āō | Forms primarily denominative verbs |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | -eh₂yéti | Creates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive... |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |