Etymology

handtame

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Today it means: Tame and accustomed to being held in the hand; (by extension) mild; meek; humble; docile Full definition →

Middle English handtame ← Old English handtam ← Proto-West Germanic *handutam
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*handutam
  2. Old English · inherited fromhandtam“tame enough to be handled”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromhandtame
  4. English todayhandtame

From Middle English handtame, from Old English handtam (“tame enough to be handled”), from Proto-West Germanic *handutam, equivalent to hand + tame. Cognate with Dutch handtam (“handtame”), German Low German handtamm (“handtame”), German handzahm (“handtame”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.