Where does “trophy hunting” come from?

trophy hunting (English) comes from English trophy hunt, from English Hunt, from Middle English hunten, from Cimbrian hunt, from Middle High German hunt, from Old High German hunt, from Proto-West Germanic hund, from Proto-Germanic hundaz — dog.

trophy hunting (English): The killing of a carefully selected animal, particularly big game, under or without government license to acquire a part of the animal, such as the head or skin, as a souvenir

Definitions

  1. The killing of a carefully selected animal, particularly big game, under or without government license to acquire a part of the animal, such as the head or skin, as a souvenir

Ancestry of “trophy hunting”, step by step

trophy hunting traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via English trophy hunt

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Englishtrophy huntAn instance of trophy hunting
2EnglishHuntfor a hunter (for game, birds etc)
3Middle Englishhuntento hunt
4Cimbrianhuntdog
5Middle High Germanhuntdog (Canis familiaris)
6Old High Germanhuntdog
7Proto-West Germanichunddog
8Proto-Germanichundazdog
9Proto-Indo-Europeanḱwn̥tós
10Proto-Indo-Europeanḱwṓdog

via English ing

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishingA meadow, especially a low meadow near a river;...
2Middle Englishing
3Old Englishingmeadow, water meadow, ing
4Old Norseengmeadow
5Proto-GermanicangijōA low lying meadow in a valley or near a river
6Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂énkoscurve, bend
7Proto-Indo-European-osCreates action nouns or result nouns from verbs;...

via English hunting

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishhuntingThe act of finding and killing a wild animal,...
2Middle Englishhunting
3Old Englishhuntunghunting
4Old English-ungforming nouns from verbs, denoting verbal action...
5Proto-Germanic-ungō-ing, -ion. "Forms gerund nouns from verbs."
Every word from Proto-Indo-European ḱwṓEvery word from Proto-Indo-European ḱwn̥tósEvery word from Proto-Germanic hundaz