Where does “showmanship” come from?
Showmanship derives from English showman, combining English show and English man, where man traces through Middle English mon and man to Proto-Indo-European men- meaning "to think" and ḱóm meaning "together."
showmanship (English): The quality or skill of giving an engaging or...
Definitions
- The quality or skill of giving an engaging or...
Ancestry of “showmanship”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | -ship | Appended to a noun to form a new noun denoting a... |
| 2 | Middle English | -schipe | Affixed to nouns and adjectives to form nouns... |
| 3 | Old English | -sċiepe | noun-forming suffix: -ship |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | -skapi | Forms nouns denoting state, originally meaning... |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | -skapiz | Forms nouns denoting state, originally meaning... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | skapjaną | to make, to create; to shape |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | skab- | to cut, split, hew, shape; to cut, split, carve,... |