Where does “a” come from?
a (Swedish) comes from Swedish och, from Old Swedish ock, from Old Norse ok, from Old Norse svá, from Proto-Germanic swa, from Proto-Germanic swē, from Proto-Indo-European swē — self (reflexive pronoun).
a (Swedish): a river, a creek, a big stream; on
Definitions
- a river, a creek, a big stream; on
Ancestry of “a”, step by step
a traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Swedish och
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Swedish | och | and; used to connect two homogeneous words or... |
| 2 | Old Swedish | ock | — |
| 3 | Old Norse | ok | and; also, too; yoke |
| 4 | Old Norse | svá | so |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | swa | so, thus, in this manner |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | swē | like, similar to; just like, in the same manner... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | swē | self (reflexive pronoun) |