Where does “oblivion” come from?
oblivion (Middle English) comes from Anglo-Norman oblivion, from Latin oblīviō, from Latin -iō, from Proto-West Germanic -jō, from Proto-Indo-European -yéti, from Proto-Indo-European yé-, from Chichewa iye — he, she.
Ancestry of “oblivion”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Anglo-Norman | oblivion | forgetfulness |
| 2 | Latin | oblīviō | — |
| 3 | Latin | -iō | — |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | -jō | Forms agent nouns from verbs |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 7 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |