Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “tortilla” come from?

Tortilla comes from Old Spanish tortiella, a diminutive of torta, which derives from Latin torta, itself a feminine form of tortus meaning twisted or rolled.

tortilla (English): A flat round bread made out of cornmeal or flour....

Definitions

  1. A flat round bread made out of cornmeal or flour....

Ancestry of “tortilla”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1SpanishtortillaSpanish omelette, tortilla; omelette; tortilla
2Old SpanishtortiellaDiminutive of torta; a small and roundish...
3Old Spanish-iellaA diminutive suffix
4Latin-ellainflection of -ellus: ## nominative/vocative...
5Latin-ellusAlternative form of -ulus; "forming masculine...
6Latin-ulusUsed to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating...
7Proto-Italic-olos—
8Proto-Italic-elos—
9Proto-Indo-European-e-lós—
10Proto-Indo-European-lósForms agent nouns from verbal roots
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -lós →