Where does “thumbkin” come from?
thumbkin (English) comes from English kin, from English fictionkin, from English fiction, from Middle English ficcioun, from Old French ficcion, from Latin fictio, from Latin -tiō, from Latin dissertātiō — small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble.
thumbkin (English): An instrument of torture for compressing the...
Definitions
- An instrument of torture for compressing the...
Ancestry of “thumbkin”, step by step
thumbkin traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English kin
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | kin | Race; family; breed; kind; Persons of the same... |
| 2 | English | fictionkin | An individual whose personal identity is based in fiction of some kind: a fictional character, a fictional race or species, etc |
| 3 | English | fiction | Literary type using invented or imaginative... |
| 4 | Middle English | ficcioun | An invention or fabrication |
| 5 | Old French | ficcion | dissimulation, ruse, invention |
| 6 | Latin | fictio | fashioning, forming, formation; fiction |
| 7 | Latin | -tiō | tion, -ation, -ing |
| 8 | Latin | dissertātiō | (spoken) dissertation, discourse, disquisition |
| 9 | Latin | dissertus | arranged, disposed; explained |
| 10 | Latin | disserere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 11 | Latin | dis- | asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;... |
| 12 | Latin | calceus | shoe |
| 13 | Latin | calx | limestone; chalk; the finish line |
| 14 | Ancient Greek | χάλιξ | small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble |
via English thumb
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | thumb | The short thick digit of the hand that for humans... |
| 2 | Middle English | þombe | thumb; thumb-length; big toe |
| 3 | Old English | þūma | thumb |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | þūmō | thumb |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | þūmô | thumb |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | tūm- | to grow; to swell, to increase; to swell, be... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | tewh₂- | to swell; to crowd; to be strong |