Where does “doyen” come from?

doyen (French) comes from Old French deien, from Latin decānus, from Latin decem, from Latin -nus, from Proto-Italic -nos, from Proto-Indo-European -nós — Creates verbal adjectives from roots.

doyen (French): dean; senior member, doyen

Definitions

  1. dean; senior member, doyen

Ancestry of “doyen”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchdeien—
2Latindecānuschief of ten people (in various contexts)
3Latindecemten; 10
4Latin-nus-an
5Proto-Italic-nosCreates verbal adjectives from verb stems
6Proto-Indo-European-nósCreates verbal adjectives from roots

Words derived from “doyen”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -nós →Every word from Latin -nus →Every word from Latin decem →