Etymology

documentary

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Today it means: Of, related to, or based on documents. Full definition →

French documentaire ← Latin documentum ← Ancient Greek διδάσκω (didáskō)
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*deḱ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*doḱ-éye-ti
  3. Proto-Italic*dokejō
  4. Proto-Italic*dokeō
  5. Ancient Greekδιδάσκω (didáskō)
  6. Latindoceō
  7. Latindocumentum
  8. Frenchdocument
  9. Frenchdocumentaire
  10. English todaydocumentary

From French adjective and (hence) noun documentaire, from document, from Latin documentum. Equivalent to document + -ary.

Words from the same roots

Latindocumentum all →

document

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.