Where does “toothache” come from?
Toothache comes from Middle English ache, Old English ǣcen, Latin apium, and Proto-Indo-European h₂eǵ-, meaning to drive or move.
toothache (English): A pain or ache in a tooth
Definitions
- A pain or ache in a tooth
Ancestry of “toothache”, step by step
toothache traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English ache
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | ache | To suffer pain; to be the source of, or be in,... |
| 2 | Middle English | ache | Aching; long-lasting hurting or injury; A plant... |
| 3 | Old French | ache | — |
| 4 | Latin | apium | parsley; celery; genitive plural of apis |
| 5 | Latin | Apis | A seaport town of Egypt situated at the borders with Marmarica |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | Ἄπις | — |
| 7 | Coptic | ϩⲁⲡⲉ | the Apis bull, a bull worshipped as a herald of the gods (first Ptah, then Osiris, then Atum) |
| 8 | Egyptian | ḥp | the god Apis |