Where does “tener” come from?
tener (Old Spanish) comes from Latin teneō, from Proto-Italic tenēō, from Proto-Indo-European ten- — to stretch, to extend.
Ancestry of “tener”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Latin | teneō | — |
| 2 | Proto-Italic | tenēō | to hold |
| 3 | Proto-Indo-European | ten- | to stretch, to extend |