Where does “Zahnfee” come from?

Zahnfee (German) comes from German Fee, from Middle High German fei(n)e, from French fée, from Old French fae, from Latin fāta, from Latin fātum, from Latin fātus, from Latin for — to speak, to be talking.

Zahnfee (German): tooth fairy

Definitions

  1. tooth fairy

Ancestry of “Zahnfee”, step by step

Zahnfee traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via German Fee

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1GermanFeefairy
2Middle High Germanfei(n)e
3Frenchféefairy, fay
4Old Frenchfae
5LatinfātaFate; Moira; goddess who controls destiny; divine personification of fate
6Latinfātumdestiny, fate, lot
7Latinfātusspoken, said, told, foretold, related, predicted; having or had spoken, etc
8Latinfor"defective"; I speak, talk, say
9Proto-Italicfāōrspeak
10Proto-Indo-Europeanbʰéh₂tito speak, to be talking

via German Zahn

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1GermanZahntooth; fang; tusk
2Middle High Germanzantooth
3Old High GermanzanAlternative form of zand
4Proto-West Germanictanþtooth
5Proto-Germanictanþstooth
6Proto-Indo-Europeanh₃dóntstooth
7Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁ed-to eat
Every word from Proto-Indo-European bʰéh₂tiEvery word from Proto-Italic fāōrEvery word from Latin for