Where does “stranglehold” come from?
I need to analyze this chain carefully, but I notice something problematic: the chain provided doesn't actually support "stranglehold" as a coherent etymology. Let me trace through what's given:
- English stranglehold
- English hold | English hole
- Latin strangulo | Ancient Greek στραγγαλόομαι
- Proto-Indo-European kel-
- Latin oleum | Ancient Greek ἔλαιον
- Latin oleum
The chain splits and becomes incoherent. "Strangulo" comes from Greek στραγγαλόομαι (to strangle), but then it branches to "kel-" and separately to oleum/ἔλαιον (oil), which makes no etymological sense for "stranglehold."
A legitimate stranglehold etymology would be: English stranglehold = English strangle + hold, where "str
stranglehold (English): A grip or control so strong as to stifle or cut...
Definitions
- A grip or control so strong as to stifle or cut...
Ancestry of “stranglehold”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | strangle | To kill someone by squeezing the throat so as to... |
| 2 | Middle English | stranglen | — |
| 3 | Old French | estrangler | to strangle |
| 4 | Latin | strangulō | — |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | στραγγαλόομαι | to be twisted or knotted up; to be strangled |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | -όω | Added to a noun or adjective to make a verb with... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -oyéti | Creates factitive verbs from adjectives |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 10 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |