Where does “glacier” come from?

glacier (Old French) comes from Frankish glīdan, from Proto-Germanic glīdaną, from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰleydʰ- — to glide.

glacier (Old French): to slip, make slippery; to slip, slide

Definitions

  1. to slip, make slippery; to slip, slide

Ancestry of “glacier”, step by step

glacier traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Frankish glīdan

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frankishglīdanto slide, glide; to glide, to slide
2Proto-Germanicglīdanąto glide; slide
3Proto-Indo-Europeanǵʰleydʰ-to glide

via Old French glace

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchglaceice
2Vulgar Latinglaciasecond-person singular present active imperative...
3Latinglaciēsice

via Latin glaciāre

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinglaciāre—

Words derived from “glacier”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰleydʰ- →Every word from Proto-Germanic glīdaną →Every word from Frankish glīdan →