Where does “wisher” come from?
I need to trace this chain carefully, but I notice some significant problems with the etymology provided. The chain given (English wish → Chinese 兒 → Old French -er → Latin -are → Latin -arius → Proto-Indo-European wun- → Proto-Italic -os) doesn't form a coherent linguistic descent for "wisher." Chinese 兒 (meaning "child/son") has no historical connection to English "wish." Old French "-er" is a verbal suffix, not a source for the English root "wish." And the chain mixes root morphemes with suffixes inconsistently. A legitimate etymology of "wisher" would be: English "wish" (verb) + English "-er" (agent noun suffix). The verb "wish" itself comes from Old English "wyscan," which traces to Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European roots—but none of this matches the chain provided.
wisher (English): Someone who makes a wish
Definitions
- Someone who makes a wish
Ancestry of “wisher”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | -er | A person or thing that does an action indicated... |
| 2 | Middle English | -er | agentive suffix; agent noun suffix |
| 3 | Old French | -er | Alternative form of -ier, verbal suffix;... |
| 4 | Latin | -āre | first conjugation |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | -āō | Forms primarily denominative verbs |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -eh₂yéti | Creates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 9 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |