Where does “twinkling” come from?
Twinkling comes from Middle English twinclen, from Old English twinclian, meaning to blink or wink rapidly.
twinkling (English): Sparkling intermittently; Present participle and...
Definitions
- Sparkling intermittently; Present participle and...
Ancestry of “twinkling”, step by step
twinkling traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English twinkle
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | twinkle | to shine with a flickering light; to glimmer; to... |
| 2 | English | -ing | Used to form gerunds, a type of verbal nouns,... |
| 3 | Old English | -ing | Forming nouns from verbs, indicating action,... |
| 4 | Old English | -tūn | homestead, village, town |
| 5 | Old English | tūn | enclosure, yard; place; dwelling |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | tūn | fence |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | tūną | fence; enclosure |
| 8 | Gaulish | dunum | fort; hill, hillfort |
| 9 | Proto-Celtic | dūnom | stronghold, rampart |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | dʰewh₂- | smoke; mist, haze |
via Middle English twynkelyng
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | twynkelyng | — |