Where does “of” come from?
of (Middle English) comes from Old English of, from Old English æf, from Proto-Germanic *ab, from Proto-Indo-European apó.
of (Middle English): of; off; until
Ancestry of “of”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Old English | of | of, from, off, out of |
| 2 | Old English | æf | of |
| 3 | Proto-Germanic | *ab | — |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | apó | — |