Where does “industry” come from?
industry (Middle English) comes from Old French industrie, from Latin industria, from Latin industrius, from Latin struō, from Proto-Italic strowō, from Proto-Indo-European strew-, from Proto-Indo-European sterh₃-, from Proto-Indo-European ster- — sterile, infertile.
Ancestry of “industry”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | industrie | — |
| 2 | Latin | industria | diligence, assiduousness; industry, activity;... |
| 3 | Latin | industrius | active, industrious, assiduous, diligent |
| 4 | Latin | struō | to place one thing on top of another, to pile up, join together |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | strowō | pile up; construct, build |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | strew- | to spread, to strew |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | sterh₃- | to spread, extend, stretch out |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ster- | sterile, infertile |