Where does “snailless” come from?
snailless (English) comes from English less, from Middle English les, from Old English lēas, from Proto-Germanic *laus.
snailless (English): Without snails
Ancestry of “snailless”, step by step
snailless traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English less
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | less | To a smaller extent or degree; comparative form... |
| 2 | Middle English | les | false; lying; deceptive; falsehood; a lie |
| 3 | Old English | lēas | false, lax; false, void, loose; devoid of, loose... |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | *laus | — |
via English snail
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | snail | Any of very many animals (either hermaphroditic or nonhermaphroditic), of the class Gastropoda, having a coiled shell |
| 2 | Middle English | snayl | A snail or slug; a gastropod |
| 3 | Old English | sneġel | a snail or slug, a gastropod |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | snagilaz | snail |