Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “purgatory” come from?

Purgatory derives from Latin purgatorium, from the adjective purgatorius, from the verb purgo meaning "to cleanse," which combines Latin ago "to drive" with Proto-Indo-European h₂eǵ- meaning "to drive or move."

purgatory (English): Alternative letter-case form of Purgatory; Any...

Definitions

  1. Alternative letter-case form of Purgatory; Any...

Ancestry of “purgatory”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishpurgatorie—
2Old Frenchpurgatore—
3Latinpūrgātōrium—
4Latinpurgātōrius—
5Latin-tōrius—
6Latin-tor-er
7Proto-Italic-tōr—
8Proto-Indo-European-tōrDerives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...
9Proto-Indo-European-tor-s—

Words derived from “purgatory”

  • purgatorian
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tor-s →