Where does “perce-neige” come from?
perce-neige (French) comes from French percer, from Old French percier, from Latin pertusiāre, from Latin pertūsus, from Latin pertundere, from Latin pertundo, from Latin tundo, from Proto-Italic tundō — to praise, laud.
perce-neige (French): snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis)
Definitions
- snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis)
Ancestry of “perce-neige”, step by step
perce-neige traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via French percer
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | percer | to pierce; to unravel, see through |
| 2 | Old French | percier | to pierce |
| 3 | Latin | pertusiāre | — |
| 4 | Latin | pertūsus | perforated |
| 5 | Latin | pertundere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 6 | Latin | pertundo | I bore through, perforate |
| 7 | Latin | tundo | I beat, strike, buffet; I pound, bruise, crush,... |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | tundō | beat, strike |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)tewd- | to push, to hit |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | stew- | to praise, laud |
via French neige
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | neige | snow, crystalline frozen precipitation; cocaine,... |
| 2 | French | neiger | to snow |
| 3 | Old French | negier | to snow |
| 4 | Vulgar Latin | nivicare | present active infinitive of *nivicō |
| 5 | Latin | nix | snow; white hair |
| 6 | Latin | -eus | argentum + API → argenteus; ferrum + API →... |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | -εῖος | Forms adjectives, usually with a meaning of "of"... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -iHwós | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -wós | Creates adjectives from verb stems |