Where does “volunteer” come from?
Volunteer comes from Middle French voluntaire, from Latin voluntarius, derived from the Latin verb velle meaning "to wish" and the Latin suffix -arius.
volunteer (English): One who enters into, or offers for, any service...
Definitions
- One who enters into, or offers for, any service...
Ancestry of “volunteer”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | -eer | Used to create an agent noun denoting someone... |
| 2 | Dutch | -eren | forms the plural of a limited group of nouns:... |
| 3 | Middle Dutch | -eren | — |
| 4 | Middle French | -er | Forms infinitives of first-conjugation verbs;... |
| 5 | Latin | -āre | first conjugation |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -āō | Forms primarily denominative verbs |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -eh₂yéti | Creates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 10 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |