Where does “merganser” come from?
merganser (Late Latin) comes from Latin mergus, from Latin mergō, from Proto-Indo-European *mésgeti, from Proto-Indo-European mesg- — to dip, sink.
Ancestry of “merganser”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Latin | mergus | diver , a kind of waterfowl; vine-layer |
| 2 | Latin | mergō | — |
| 3 | Proto-Indo-European | *mésgeti | — |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | mesg- | to dip, sink |