-some

-some · suffix¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*sem-
2. Proto-Indo-European*somHós
3. Proto-Germanic*samaz
4. English today-some

From Middle English -som, -sum, from Old English -sum (“same as; -some”), from Proto-West Germanic *-sam, from Proto-Germanic *-samaz, from Proto-Germanic *samaz (“same”). Akin to Saterland Frisian -soam (“-some”), West Frisian -sum (“-some”), Dutch -zaam (“-some”), German Low German -saam (“-some”), German -sam (“-some”), Danish -som, Swedish -sam, Icelandic -samur (“-some”), Gothic -𐍃𐌰𐌼𐍃 (-sams), -𐍃𐌰𐌼𐌰 (-sama). Cognate with Albanian -shëm (“-some”). More at same, some.

-some · suffix²

1. Old English · derived fromsum“some, one”
2. Middle English · inherited from-som
3. English today-some

From Middle English -som, from a specialized use of Old English sum (“some, one”) coming after a genitive plural (e.g. hē wæs fēowertiga sum --"he was one of forty", literally "he was forties' some[one]"; sixa sum --"one of six, sixsome").

-some · suffix³

1. Proto-Indo-European*tewh₂-
2. Proto-Indo-European*twoH-mn̥
3. Proto-Hellenic*twṓmə?
4. Proto-Indo-European*styeH-
5. Proto-Indo-European*(s)tyoH-mn̥
6. Proto-Hellenic*styṓmə?
7. Ancient Greekσῶμα (sôma)
8. English today-some

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek σῶμα (sôma, “body”). For the "chromosome" sense, by analogy with chromosome.

-some · suffix⁴

From some in its "approximately" sense; more at some § Etymology.

Words from the same roots