Etymology

Carolingian

Ca·ro·lin·gi·an
C3A1R1O1L1I1N1G2I1A1N1

Today it means: Of or pertaining to the Carolings, the members of a Frankish dynasty, descended from Charles Martel, which arose from the Pippinid and Arnulfingian clans in the 7th century and ruled parts of western Europe until the 9th century, reaching its peak under Martel's grandson Charlemagne. Full definition →

Medieval Latin Carolingī ← Proto-West Germanic *karil ← Proto-Germanic *karilaz
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ǵerh₂-
  2. Proto-Germanic*karaz
  3. Proto-Germanic*karilaz
  4. Proto-West Germanic*karil
  5. Medieval LatinCarolingī
  6. English todayCarolingian

From Medieval Latin Carolingī (“Carolings (descendants of Charles Martel)”) [plural of Carolingus, from a Frankish patronymic ultimately composed of Proto-West Germanic *karil + *-ing] + -ian. Reshaping of earlier Carlovingian, from Middle French Carlovingien, itself a misconstruction of Carlingien. By surface analysis, Caroling + -ian.

Words from the same roots

Proto-West Germanic*karil all →

carlingcaroling

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.