Where does “postkontor” come from?
postkontor (Norwegian Bokmål) comes from Norwegian Bokmål kontor, from Danish kontor, from Middle Low German kontōr, from Middle Dutch cantoor, from Middle French contoir, from Middle French compter, from Old French compter, from Latin computāre — whale, sea monster; abyss.
postkontor (Norwegian Bokmål): a post office
Ancestry of “postkontor”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Norwegian Bokmål | kontor | an office |
| 2 | Danish | kontor | office |
| 3 | Middle Low German | kontōr | commercial branch; writing room; counting desk |
| 4 | Middle Dutch | cantoor | — |
| 5 | Middle French | contoir | Alternative spelling of comptoir |
| 6 | Middle French | compter | to recount; to tell |
| 7 | Old French | compter | — |
| 8 | Latin | computāre | — |
| 9 | Latin | computō | — |
| 10 | Latin | com- | allomorph of con- |
| 11 | Latin | con- | Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing... |
| 12 | Latin | cum | with, along with; at; -fold |
| 13 | Old Latin | com | Alternative form of cum |
| 14 | Proto-Italic | kom | with, along, at |
| 15 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 16 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 17 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 18 | Russian | кит | whale; genitive plural of ки́та |
| 19 | Old Church Slavonic | китъ | whale |
| 20 | Ancient Greek | κῆτος | whale, sea monster; abyss |