Where does “undulatory” come from?
Undulatory comes from English undulate plus the suffix -y, from Latin undula meaning small wave, derived from Latin unda meaning wave, with formative suffixes -ia and -ivus tracing to Proto-Indo-European -kos.
undulatory (English): That undulates, or that causes undulations
Definitions
- That undulates, or that causes undulations
Ancestry of “undulatory”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | undulate | To cause to move in a wavelike motion; To cause... |
| 2 | Latin | undulātus | undulated, diversified as with waves, pleated |
| 3 | Latin | undula | wavelet; vocative singular of undula; ablative... |
| 4 | Latin | -ulus | Used to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating... |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | -olos | — |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -elos | Forms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |