Where does “ropewalking” come from?
ropewalking (English) comes from English walking, from English -ing, from Old English -ing, from Old English -tūn, from Old English tūn, from Proto-West Germanic tūn, from Proto-Germanic tūną, from Gaulish dunum — smoke; mist, haze.
ropewalking (English): tightrope walking
Definitions
- tightrope walking
Ancestry of “ropewalking”, step by step
ropewalking traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English walking
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | walking | present participle of walk; Incarnate as a human;... |
| 2 | English | -ing | Used to form gerunds, a type of verbal nouns,... |
| 3 | Old English | -ing | Forming nouns from verbs, indicating action,... |
| 4 | Old English | -tūn | homestead, village, town |
| 5 | Old English | tūn | enclosure, yard; place; dwelling |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | tūn | fence |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | tūną | fence; enclosure |
| 8 | Gaulish | dunum | fort; hill, hillfort |
| 9 | Proto-Celtic | dūnom | stronghold, rampart |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | dʰewh₂- | smoke; mist, haze |
via English rope
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | rope | Thick strings, yarn, monofilaments, metal wires,... |
| 2 | Middle English | ropen | To form into ropes or strands |
| 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 |