Where does “merciful” come from?
merciful (Middle English) comes from Middle English mercy, from Middle English -ful, from Old English -ful, from Proto-Germanic -fullaz, from Proto-Germanic fullaz, from Proto-Indo-European pl̥h₁nós, from Proto-Indo-European pleh₁- — to fill.
Ancestry of “merciful”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | mercy | Alternative form of mercien |
| 2 | Middle English | -ful | Appended to nouns to form adjectives denoting... |
| 3 | Old English | -ful | full of; -ful |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | -fullaz | -ful |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | fullaz | full; the whole, the entire |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | pl̥h₁nós | full |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | pleh₁- | to fill |