Where does “flint” come from?
flint (Old English) comes from Proto-West Germanic *flint, from Proto-Germanic flintaz, from Proto-Indo-European splind-, from Proto-Indo-European (s)plei- — to split, splice; to divide, split, splice.
Ancestry of “flint”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Proto-West Germanic | *flint | — |
| 2 | Proto-Germanic | flintaz | — |
| 3 | Proto-Indo-European | splind- | to split, cleave; split |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)plei- | to split, splice; to divide, split, splice |
Words derived from “flint”