Where does “unforgiveness” come from?
I need to work through this etymology chain carefully, but I notice something problematic: the chain provided doesn't actually trace "unforgiveness" back coherently. The chain jumps from "English forgiveness" to "Latin unus" (meaning 'one'), which has no semantic or morphological connection to forgiveness.
Looking at what's actually in the chain:
- English forgiveness → Latin unus (one) → Proto-Indo-European óynos (one) → etc.
This chain appears to trace the prefix "un-" rather than the full word "unforgiveness," and it's incomplete or corrupted because:
1. "Forgiveness" itself isn't etymologized
2. The jump to Latin "unus" suggests only the "un-" prefix is being traced
3. The chain doesn't support the full meaning of "unforgiveness"
**I cannot write an accurate one-sentence summary because
unforgiveness (English): Lack of forgiveness
Ancestry of “unforgiveness”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | forgiveness | The action of forgiving; Readiness to forgive |
| 2 | Middle English | forgiveness | — |
| 3 | Old English | forġiefnes | — |
| 4 | Old English | -nes | Used to form abstract nouns, usually from... |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | -nassī | Used to form abstract nouns, usually from... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -inassuz | -ness |
| 7 | Proto-West Germanic | -ī | -ness, -th |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | -į̄ | -th |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -íh₂ | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -h₂ | Creates collective nouns, which refer to groups... |