Where does “surrealist” come from?
Surrealist comes from English surreal plus the Latin suffix -ista, derived from Ancient Greek -ιστής, which derives from the verb -ίζω, ultimately tracing to Proto-Indo-European -idyéti meaning to do or perform.
surrealist (English): of, or relating to surrealism; a surrealist...
Definitions
- of, or relating to surrealism; a surrealist...
Ancestry of “surrealist”, step by step
surrealist traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English surreal
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | surreal | Resembling a dream: fantastic and incongruous;... |
| 2 | English | surrealism | An artistic movement and an aesthetic philosophy... |
| 3 | French | surréalisme | surrealism |
| 4 | French | réalisme | realism |
| 5 | French | réel | real |
| 6 | Middle French | real | royal; Alternative form of royal |
| 7 | Old French | reel | — |
| 8 | Latin | reālis | real |
| 9 | Latin | rēs | thing, object, stuff |
| 10 | Latin | vindicatio | civil lawsuit; protection, defence; vindication;... |
| 11 | Latin | vindicō | to lay claim to as one's own (often with sibi) |
| 12 | Latin | vindex | claimant, vindicator |
| 13 | Latin | dīcō | to say, talk, speak, utter, mention |
| 14 | Latin | -tiō | tion, -ation, -ing |
| 15 | Latin | dissertātiō | (spoken) dissertation, discourse, disquisition |
| 16 | Latin | dissertus | arranged, disposed; explained |
| 17 | Latin | disserere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 18 | Latin | dis- | asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;... |
| 19 | Latin | calceus | shoe |
| 20 | Latin | calx | limestone; chalk; the finish line |
via French surréaliste
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | surréaliste | surrealist |