Where does “protest” come from?
protest (Serbo-Croatian) comes from German Protest, from Italian protesto, from Latin prōtestārī, from Latin testor, from Latin testis, from Latin terstis, from Latin trīstis, from Proto-Indo-European tristh₂s — to stand.
protest (Serbo-Croatian): protest
Ancestry of “protest”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | German | Protest | protest |
| 2 | Italian | protesto | protest; first-person singular present of... |
| 3 | Latin | prōtestārī | — |
| 4 | Latin | testor | I am witness, testify, attest; I make a will |
| 5 | Latin | testis | witness; one who testifies or attests; testicle |
| 6 | Latin | terstis | — |
| 7 | Latin | trīstis | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | tristh₂s | a third party standing, after the two parties to... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | steh₂- | to stand |