Where does “tiresome” come from?

Tiresome combines English tire, from Proto-Indo-European tewh₂- meaning to push or swell, with English some, from Old English sum derived from Proto-Indo-European sem- meaning one or together.

tiresome (English): Causing fatigue or boredom; wearisome

Definitions

  1. Causing fatigue or boredom; wearisome

Ancestry of “tiresome”, step by step

tiresome traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English some

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishsomeA certain number, at least two; An indefinite...
2Middle Englishsomsome
3Old Englishsumsome
4Proto-West Germanic*sumsome
5Proto-Germanicsumazsome (one), a certain (one)
6Proto-Indo-Europeansem-together, one

via English Tire

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishTireTo become sleepy or weary
2Middle Englishtireequipment
3Old Frenchtirerto pull
4Gothic𐍄𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌽to tear away, remove
5Proto-Germanicteranąto tear; snatch or pull off (from); tug
6Proto-Indo-Europeander-to split, to separate; to tear, to crack, to...

Words derived from “tiresome”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European sem- →Every word from Proto-Germanic sumaz →Every word from Proto-West Germanic *sum →