Where does “cobra” come from?
cobra (Italian) comes from Portuguese cobra, from Old Portuguese coobra, from Vulgar Latin colobra, from Latin colubra, from Latin -a, from Proto-Italic -ā, from Proto-Indo-European -éh₂.
cobra (Italian): cobra
Ancestry of “cobra”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Portuguese | cobra | snake |
| 2 | Old Portuguese | coobra | snake |
| 3 | Vulgar Latin | colobra | — |
| 4 | Latin | colubra | a female snake, serpent; snake, serpent |
| 5 | Latin | -a | suffixed to the roots of verbs, forms agent... |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -ā | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -éh₂ | — |