Etymology

gerrymandering

ger·ry·man·der·ing
G2E1R1R1Y4M3A1N1D2E1R1I1N1G2

Today it means: The practice of redrawing electoral districts to gain an electoral advantage for a political party. Full definition →

English gerrymander ← Middle English salamandre ← Anglo-Norman salamandre
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰey-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰeys-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰoysós
  4. Proto-Germanic*gaizaz
  5. Proto-Indo-European*h₂welh₁-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*h₂wl̥h₁-t-
  7. Proto-Germanic*wulþǭder.?
  8. Proto-Indo-European*welH-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*wélH-dʰe-ti
  10. Proto-Indo-European*we-wólH-dʰe-ti?
  11. Proto-Germanic*waldaną
  12. Proto-Germanic*waldaz
  13. Proto-Germanic*Gaizawaldaz
  14. Frankish*Gaiʀawald
  15. Old FrenchGerald
  16. EnglishGerald
  17. Proto-Germanic*gaizaz
  18. Proto-West Germanic*gaiʀ
  19. Proto-Indo-European*kret-der.?
  20. Proto-Germanic*harduz
  21. Proto-West Germanic*hard(ī)
  22. Frankish*Gaiʀahard
  23. Old FrenchGerart
  24. Middle EnglishGerard
  25. EnglishGerard
  26. EnglishGerry
  27. Ancient Greekσαλαμάνδρα (salamándra)
  28. Latinsalamandra
  29. Anglo-Normansalamandre
  30. Middle Englishsalamandre
  31. Englishsalamander
  32. Englishgerrymander
  33. English todaygerrymandering

From gerrymander + -ing.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.