Where does “sap” come from?

Sapling comes from French sape, from Latin sappa, from Proto-Indo-European roots sap- and sab-, though the original meaning remains uncertain.

sap (English): The juice of plants of any kind, especially the...

Definitions

  1. The juice of plants of any kind, especially the...

Ancestry of “sap”, step by step

sap traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via French saper

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchsaperto sap, do sapping work on; to erode, wear down,...
2Frenchsapea small scythe; hoe, mattock; fashion, style
3Old Frenchsappe
4Latinsappaa sort of mattock

via Middle English sap

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishsapsap plant juices
2Old Englishsæpsap
3Proto-West Germanic*sapjuice
4Proto-Indo-Europeansab-juice; taste

Words derived from “sap

Every word from Latin sappa