Where does “false” come from?

false (Middle English) comes from Old English fals, from Latin falsus, from Latin fallō, from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰwel- — to bend; to lie, deceive.

Ancestry of “false”, step by step

false traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Old English fals

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Englishfalsfalsehood, fraud, counterfeit; false
2Latinfalsusdeceived, tricked, cheated, disappointed, having...
3Latinfallōto deceive, beguile, trick, cheat, delude, ensnare, disappoint
4Proto-Indo-Europeanǵʰwel-to bend; to lie, deceive

via Old French faus

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old FrenchfausAlternative form of fals; false
2Thaiฝังto bury

Words derived from “false”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰwel- →Every word from Latin fallō →Every word from Latin falsus →