Where does “motattack” come from?

motattack (Swedish) comes from Swedish attack, from French attaque, from French attaquer, from Italian attaccare, from Italian a-, from Italian staccare, from Italian distaccare, from Middle French destacher — to cover; pole, stick, beam.

motattack (Swedish): counter-attack

Definitions

  1. counter-attack

Ancestry of “motattack”, step by step

motattack traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Swedish attack

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Swedishattackattack; an attempt to cause damage; attack;...
2Frenchattaqueattack; onset of a syllable; first-person...
3Frenchattaquerto attack
4Italianattaccareto stick, attach, append; to attack
5Italiana-ad-; a-
6Italianstaccareto remove, take or take down; to tear out; to...
7Italiandistaccareto separate; to remove, detach, or take off; to...
8Middle Frenchdestacherto detach; to separate
9Old Frenchdestachierto detach; to separate
10Old Frenchatachierto attach
11Old FrenchestachierAlternative form of atachier; bind; to fasten...
12Old Frenchestachestake; strap
13Medieval Latinstacaa stake
14Gothic𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌺𐌰
15Proto-Germanicstakôstake
16Proto-Indo-European(s)teg-to cover; pole, stick, beam

via Swedish mot

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Swedishmotinterchange; a large junction where two or more...
2Old Norsemótmeeting; town-meeting; joint, juncture
3Proto-Germanicmōtąmeeting
4Proto-Indo-Europeanmeh₂d-to be wet, to become wet; to meet, approach,...
Every word from Proto-Indo-European (s)teg-