Where does “sarsaparilla” come from?
Sarsaparilla comes from Spanish zarzaparrilla, from Spanish zarza combined with the diminutive suffix -illa, ultimately derived from Latin -ellus.
sarsaparilla (English): Any of various tropical American vines of the...
Definitions
- Any of various tropical American vines of the...
Ancestry of “sarsaparilla”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spanish | zarzaparrilla | sarsaparilla |
| 2 | Spanish | parrilla | grill; grid; small grapevine |
| 3 | Spanish | -illa | Added to feminine nouns to denote a diminutive... |
| 4 | Old Spanish | -iella | A diminutive suffix |
| 5 | Latin | -ella | inflection of -ellus: ## nominative/vocative... |
| 6 | Latin | -ellus | Alternative form of -ulus; "forming masculine... |
| 7 | Latin | -ulus | Used to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating... |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -olos | — |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | -elos | Forms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |