Where does “someone” come from?
Someone comes from Middle English som + on, where on derives from Old English ān, from Proto-Germanic andi, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European sem- meaning "one."
someone (English): Some person; A partially specified but unnamed...
Definitions
- Some person; A partially specified but unnamed...
Ancestry of “someone”, step by step
someone traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English one
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | one | The number represented by the Arabic numeral 1;... |
| 2 | Middle English | one | Alternative form of on; Alternative form of hone;... |
| 3 | Middle English | onen | to unify; to join together; to gather together;... |
| 4 | Middle English | -en | Denotes the past participle form when attached to... |
| 5 | Old English | -en | mæġþ + API → mæġden; cocc + API → cycen, cicen;... |
| 6 | Old Norse | -inn | Used to create adjectives from nouns, meaning... |
| 7 | Proto-Norse | -īna- | — |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | -īnaz | -en |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -iHnos | Creates adjectives of materials |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -no- | adjectival suffix |