Where does “ternately” come from?
ternately (English) comes from English ternate, from Latin ternus, from Latin ter, from Latin terr, from Old Latin tris, from Proto-Italic trēs, from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes.
ternately (English): In a ternate manner
Ancestry of “ternately”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | ternate | Having three divisions |
| 2 | Latin | ternus | triple, threefold, trinary; three each |
| 3 | Latin | ter | thrice |
| 4 | Latin | terr | — |
| 5 | Old Latin | tris | — |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | trēs | three |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | *tréyes | — |