Where does “telepathy” come from?
Telepathy derives from English -pathy and English -y, ultimately tracing through Proto-Indo-European kʷel- meaning to drive or move, via Middle French -ie, Latin -ia, Latin -ivus, and Proto-Indo-European -kos.
telepathy (English): The capability to communicate directly by psychic...
Definitions
- The capability to communicate directly by psychic...
Ancestry of “telepathy”, step by step
telepathy traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English pathy
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | pathy | A therapy |
| 2 | English | -pathy | suffering, feeling; Damage to, disease of, or... |
| 3 | English | -y | Added to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives... |
| 4 | Middle English | -y | Designates an adjective, in many cases formed by... |
| 5 | Old English | -iġ | -y, -ic |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | -g | Forms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a... |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | -gaz | -y |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -ḱos | -y, -ic |