Where does “scintillator” come from?
Scintillator derives from English scintillate, from Latin scintillāre meaning to sparkle, from Latin scintilla meaning spark, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European sek- meaning to cut or divide.
scintillator (English): Any substance that glows under the action of...
Definitions
- Any substance that glows under the action of...
Ancestry of “scintillator”, step by step
scintillator traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English ‐or
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | ‐or | Creates an agent noun, often from a verb, indicating a person or object (often machines or parts of them) that do the verb or part of speech with which they are formed |
| 2 | Middle English | -our | — |
| 3 | Old French | -eor | Alternative form of -or |
| 4 | Latin | -ator | -ator, -er; second-person singular future passive... |
| 5 | Latin | -tor | -er |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -tōr | Forms agent nouns to verb stems |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -tōr | Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -tor-s | — |
via English scintillate
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | scintillate | To give off sparks; to shine as if emanating... |
| 2 | Latin | scintillātus | sparkled |
| 3 | Latin | scintillō | to scintillate, sparkle |
| 4 | Latin | scintilla | spark; glimmer |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | ski-nto- | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | skey- | to split, to dissect |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | sek- | to cut, cut off, sever |