Where does “lame” come from?
lame (Middle English) comes from Old English lama, from Proto-West Germanic *lam, from Proto-Germanic lamaz, from Proto-Indo-European h₃lemH- — broken; weak, broken, soft.
Ancestry of “lame”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Old English | lama | lame |
| 2 | Proto-West Germanic | *lam | — |
| 3 | Proto-Germanic | lamaz | lame; withered, defective |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | h₃lemH- | broken; weak, broken, soft |
Words derived from “lame”