Where does “summertime” come from?
Summertime derives from Middle English somertime, a compound of somer (summer) and time (time period).
summertime (English): The period or season of summer
Definitions
- The period or season of summer
Ancestry of “summertime”, step by step
summertime traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via English Summer
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Summer | of modern usage, from summer, the name of the season, often given to girls born in summer |
| 2 | English | sum | A quantity obtained by addition or aggregation;... |
| 3 | Khmer | ស | white |
| 4 | Chinese | 蘇 | — |
| 5 | English | Sue | A Mary Sue |
| 6 | Middle English | seuen | — |
| 7 | Anglo-Norman | suer | nominative singular of seror; to dry |
| 8 | Old French | sivre | to follow |
| 9 | Vulgar Latin | sequere | to follow; second-person singular future active... |
| 10 | Latin | sequor | I follow, come or go after |
| 11 | Proto-Italic | sekʷōr | follow, come/go after |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | sékʷetor | to be following |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | sekʷ- | to follow; to see; to say |
via English Time
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Time | The inevitable progression into the future with the passing of present and past events |
| 2 | Middle English | tyme | thyme; time; A specific duration or period of... |
| 3 | Old French | thym | — |
| 4 | Latin | thymum | thyme; accusative singular of thymus |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | θύμον | thyme |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | θύω | I offer in sacrifice, slay, burn, immolate; I... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | dʰewh₂- | smoke; mist, haze |
via Middle English somertime
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | somertime | — |