Where does “townsfolk” come from?
Townsfolk combines English town with Middle English -s (plural marker) and Old English folc, from Proto-Germanic fulką and Proto-Indo-European pleh₁-, meaning to fill or be full.
townsfolk (English): The people who live in a town, especially the...
Definitions
- The people who live in a town, especially the...
Ancestry of “townsfolk”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | town | A settlement; an area with residential districts,... |
| 2 | English | Freetown | — |
| 3 | English | free | Unconstrained; Obtainable without any payment;... |
| 4 | Middle English | free | — |
| 5 | Old English | frēo | free, joyful |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | *frī | — |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | frijaz | free |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | priHós | dear, beloved; happy, free |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | preyH- | to love, to please |