Where does “still” come from?
still (Norwegian Bokmål) comes from Norwegian Bokmål stille, from Old Norse stilla, from Middle Low German stillen, from Old Saxon stillian, from Proto-West Germanic stillijan, from Proto-West Germanic -jan, from Proto-Germanic -janą, from Proto-Indo-European -yéti — he, she.
still (Norwegian Bokmål): imperative of stille
Ancestry of “still”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Norwegian Bokmål | stille | silent; still; quiet |
| 2 | Old Norse | stilla | to calm |
| 3 | Middle Low German | stillen | — |
| 4 | Old Saxon | stillian | — |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | stillijan | to make still, quiet |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | -jan | Creates denominative verbs from nouns; Creates... |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | -janą | Derives denominatives from nouns and factitives... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 10 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |