Where does “woodpile” come from?
Woodpile combines English wood with pile, from Middle French pile, Latin pila, and Latin pilum, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots related to hair and weaving.
woodpile (English): A pile of cut wood to be used as fuel; An...
Definitions
- A pile of cut wood to be used as fuel; An...
Ancestry of “woodpile”, step by step
woodpile traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English pile
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | pile | A mass of things heaped together; a heap; A group... |
| 2 | French | pile | heap, stack; pillar; battery |
| 3 | Old French | pile | — |
| 4 | Latin | pila | mortar; pillar; pier |
| 5 | Latin | pīlus | a hair |
| 6 | Latin | pīlum | a pounder, pestle |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | pistlom | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | pis-tlo- | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | peys- | to grind, to crush |
via English Wood
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Wood | An English topographic surname for someone who lived in or near a wood |
| 2 | English | Frog | Alternative form of frog |
| 3 | Portuguese | froco | flock |
| 4 | Latin | floccus | tuft, wisp of wool |
| 5 | Frankish | flokko | down, wool, flock |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | *flukkô | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | plewk- | to fly, flow, run; to splash, to flap with hands |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | plew- | to fly, flow, run |