Where does “bac-” come from?
bac- (Middle English) comes from Middle English abak, from Old English onbæc, from Old English on, from Proto-West Germanic ana, from Proto-Germanic *an, from Proto-Germanic ana, from Proto-Indo-European h₂en- — on, onto.
Ancestry of “bac-”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | abak | — |
| 2 | Old English | onbæc | — |
| 3 | Old English | on | on, in, at, among; from |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | ana | on |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | *an | — |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | ana | on, at; on, onto; ana |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂en- | on, onto |
Words derived from “bac-”