Where does “fawn” come from?
fawn (Middle English) comes from Latin Faunus, from New Latin fauna, from English avifauna, from Latin avis, from Proto-Italic awis, from Proto-Indo-European h₂éwis — bird.
fawn (Middle English): fawn, satyr
Ancestry of “fawn”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Latin | Faunus | Faunus |
| 2 | New Latin | fauna | animals |
| 3 | English | avifauna | The birds, or all the kinds of birds, inhabiting... |
| 4 | Latin | avis | a bird; omen, portent; dative/ablative plural of... |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | awis | bird |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂éwis | bird |
Words derived from “fawn”