Where does “puissaunt” come from?
puissaunt (Middle English) comes from Old French puissant, from Old French pooir, from Latin posso, from Finnish possu, from Finnish porsas, from Proto-Finnic porcas, from Romanian porc, from Latin porcus — passed , crossed.
puissaunt (Middle English): powerful, mighty, puissant
Definitions
- powerful, mighty, puissant
Ancestry of “puissaunt”, step by step
puissaunt traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via Old French puissant
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | puissant | powerful; mighty |
| 2 | Old French | pooir | can; to be able to; power; ability; capability |
| 3 | Latin | posso | to be able |
| 4 | Finnish | possu | piggy, pig, piglet; a slovenly person; pork |
| 5 | Finnish | porsas | A piglet; Pork; A pig in the sense of messy,... |
| 6 | Proto-Finnic | porcas | piglet |
| 7 | Romanian | porc | pig (mammal of genus Sus), hog, swine |
| 8 | Latin | porcus | a piglet, a young pig; a pig, hog; Short for... |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | porkos | pig |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | pórḱos | piglet |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | perḱ- | colored; motley; to open, rip up |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | per- | before, in front; first; to go through |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | pr̥tós | passed , crossed |
via Middle French puissant
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle French | puissant | — |
| 2 | Latin | posse | present active infinitive of possum "to be able... |
| 3 | Latin | potis | able, capable, possible |
| 4 | Proto-Italic | potis | master, in control of |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | pótis | master, ruler; husband |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ph₃tis | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | peh₃- | to drink |