Where does “coronavirus” come from?
coronavirus (Italian) comes from Italian corona, from Latin corōna, from Spanish -illa, from Old Spanish -iella, from Latin -ella, from Latin -ellus, from Latin -ulus, from Proto-Italic -olos — Forms agent nouns from verbal roots.
coronavirus (Italian): coronavirus
Definitions
- coronavirus
Ancestry of “coronavirus”, step by step
coronavirus traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Italian corona
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italian | corona | crown; coronet; wreath, chaplet |
| 2 | Latin | corōna | chaplet, laurel, or wreath; presented to athletes, the gods, or the dead |
| 3 | Spanish | -illa | Added to feminine nouns to denote a diminutive... |
| 4 | Old Spanish | -iella | A diminutive suffix |
| 5 | Latin | -ella | inflection of -ellus: ## nominative/vocative... |
| 6 | Latin | -ellus | Alternative form of -ulus; "forming masculine... |
| 7 | Latin | -ulus | Used to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating... |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -olos | — |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | -elos | Forms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |
via Italian virus
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italian | virus | virus |
| 2 | Latin | vīrus | — |
| 3 | Ancient Greek | -λογία | Base for nouns denoting the study of something,... |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | λόγος | That which is said: word, sentence, speech,... |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | λέγω | I put in order, arrange, gather; I choose, count,... |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | leǵ- | to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning to... |