Where does “verticality” come from?
Verticality comes from French verticalité, formed from French vertical (from Latin verticalis, derived from Latin vertere meaning "to turn") plus the French suffix -ité (from Latin -itas).
verticality (English): Verticalness
Ancestry of “verticality”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | vertical | Standing, pointing, or moving straight up or... |
| 2 | Middle French | vertical | — |
| 3 | Latin | verticālis | — |
| 4 | Latin | vertex | whirlpool, eddy, vortex; crown; top, peak, summit |
| 5 | Latin | vertō | — |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | wertō | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | wert- | to turn, to rotate |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | wer- | to burn; to cover, heed, notice; squirrel |