hydrogen

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*wed-
2. Proto-Indo-European*wódr̥
3. Proto-Hellenic*údōr
4. Ancient Greekῡ̆̔́δωρ (hū̆́dōr)
5. Ancient Greekὑδρο- (hudro-)
6. Frenchhydro-
7. Proto-Indo-European*ǵenh₁-
8. Proto-Indo-European*ǵénh₁os
9. Proto-Hellenic*génos
10. Ancient Greekγένος (génos)
11. Frenchhydrogène
12. English todayhydrogen

Borrowed from French hydrogène (“hydrogen”), coined by the French chemists Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau (1737–1816) and Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794) from hydro- (prefix meaning ‘water’) + -gène (suffix denoting a producer of something), from the fact that water is produced as a compound when hydrogen is oxidized. * The prefix hydro- is borrowed from Ancient Greek ῠ̔δρο- (hŭdro-), from ῡ̆̔́δωρ (hū̆́dōr, “water”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water”). * The suffix -gène is borrowed from Ancient Greek -γενής (-genḗs, suffix meaning ‘born in a certain condition or place’), from γένος (génos, “descendant, offspring; race; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget, produce; to give birth”)) + -ης (-ēs, suffix forming some third-declension adjectives). By surface analysis, hydro- (prefix meaning ‘water’) + -gen (suffix denoting a producer of something).

Words from the same roots