Where does “suckling” come from?
Suckling comes from Old English -ung, a noun-forming suffix in Proto-Germanic -ungō, attached to the verb suckle.
suckling (English): An infant that is still being breastfed by its...
Definitions
- An infant that is still being breastfed by its...
Ancestry of “suckling”, step by step
suckling traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English sukling
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | sukling | — |
| 2 | English | suck | An instance of drawing something into one's mouth... |
| 3 | Middle English | souken | To suck; to extract or draw with the mouth; To... |
| 4 | Old English | sūcan | to suck |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | sūkan | to suck; to suckle |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | sūkaną | to suck; to suckle |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | sug- | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | sew- | to press out, extract; juice; liquid, rain; to... |
via English ing
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | ing | A meadow, especially a low meadow near a river;... |
| 2 | Middle English | ing | — |
| 3 | Old English | ing | meadow, water meadow, ing |
| 4 | Old Norse | eng | meadow |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | angijō | A low lying meadow in a valley or near a river |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂énkos | curve, bend |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -os | Creates action nouns or result nouns from verbs;... |