Etymology

Proto-Germanic

Pro·to-Ger·man·ic

Today it means: Hypothetical prehistoric ancestor language of all Germanic languages, including English; a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. Full definition →

English Germanic ← Ancient Greek πρωτο- (prōto-) ← Proto-Indo-European *pró
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-der.?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*pér
  3. Proto-Indo-European*pró
  4. Ancient Greekπρό (pró)
  5. Ancient Greekπρῶτος (prôtos)
  6. Ancient Greekπρωτο- (prōto-)
  7. Englishproto-
  8. EnglishGermanic
  9. English todayProto-Germanic

From proto- + Germanic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.