Where does “sour” come from?
Sour comes from Old English sūr, from Proto-Germanic sūraz, ultimately tracing to Proto-Indo-European h₂weh₁- meaning to blow or breathe, which also produced Ancient Greek ἀήρ.
sour (English): Having an acidic, sharp or tangy taste; Made...
Definitions
- Having an acidic, sharp or tangy taste; Made...
Ancestry of “sour”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | sour | sour, acidic, bitter; foul-smelling, rancid;... |
| 2 | Old French | essorer | to fly up, soar |
| 3 | Vulgar Latin | exaurare | to rise into the air; to expose to air; to rise... |
| 4 | Latin | ex | A name of the letter "X"; out of, from |
| 5 | Latin | commūnicō | to impart, share |
| 6 | Latin | commūnis | common, commonplace, ordinary, general, universal, shared, shared alike, of both sides, belonging to two or more together |
| 7 | Old Latin | com(m)oinis | — |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | kommoinis | common |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱom-moy-ni- | held in common |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 12 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 13 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 14 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 15 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 16 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 17 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |