Where does “morsmål” come from?
morsmål (Norwegian Bokmål) comes from Norwegian Bokmål mål, from Dutch mal, from Old French mole, from Latin modulus, from Latin -ulus, from Proto-Italic -olos, from Proto-Italic -elos, from Proto-Indo-European -e-lós — Forms agent nouns from verbal roots.
morsmål (Norwegian Bokmål): mother tongue
Definitions
- mother tongue
Ancestry of “morsmål”, step by step
morsmål traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Norwegian Bokmål mål
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norwegian Bokmål | mål | language, dialect; aim, goal, purpose, target,... |
| 2 | Dutch | mal | mold, cast; foolish, crazy, lacking common sense |
| 3 | Old French | mole | — |
| 4 | Latin | modulus | a small measure or interval; a module; a water... |
| 5 | Latin | -ulus | Used to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating... |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -olos | — |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -elos | Forms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |