Where does “slaty” come from?
Slaty comes from Middle English -y, Middle French -ie, Latin -ia, Latin -ivus, Latin -ia, Proto-Indo-European -kos, and Proto-Indo-European -kos, tracing the adjectival suffix through Romance and Indo-European languages.
slaty (English): Resembling the mineral slate
Definitions
- Resembling the mineral slate
Ancestry of “slaty”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | slate | A fine-grained homogeneous sedimentary rock... |
| 2 | English | sclate | Obsolete form of slate |
| 3 | Old French | esclate | — |
| 4 | Old French | esclater | to separate from, sunder out |
| 5 | Frankish | slaitan | to split, break |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | slaitijaną | — |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | slītaną | to tear apart |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | sleyd- | — |