Where does “làm duyên” come from?

làm duyên (Vietnamese) comes from Vietnamese làm, from French lamé, from French -é, from Middle French -é, from Old French -é, from Latin -a, from Proto-Italic -ā, from Proto-Indo-European -éh₂.

làm duyên (Vietnamese): to try and come over as graceful

Definitions

  1. to try and come over as graceful

Ancestry of “làm duyên”, step by step

làm duyên traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Vietnamese làm

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Vietnameselàmto do; to make; to work
2Frenchlamépast participle of lamer
3French-épast participle root verb suffix of regular -er...
4Middle French-épast participle root verb suffix of regular; -ed, -en, -n
5Old French-éused to form past participles of regular -er...
6Latin-asuffixed to the roots of verbs, forms agent...
7Proto-Italic-āForms masculine agent nouns from prefixed or compounded bases
8Proto-Indo-European-éh₂—

via Vietnamese duyên

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Vietnameseduyênthe predestined tie that is believed to have...
2Chinese緣—
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -éh₂ →Every word from Latin -a →Every word from French -é →