liminal

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*-mn̥
2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*Heh₃l-“to bend, bow; elbow”
3. Latin · derived fromlīmināris
4. English todayliminal

From Latin līmināris, from līmen (“doorstep, threshold; doorway, entrance; beginning, commencement”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns). Līmen is possibly derived from līmus (“askew; sideways”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *Heh₃l- (“to bend, bow; elbow”)) + -men (suffix forming neuter nouns of the third declension) (from Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ (suffix forming action nouns or result nouns from verbs)).

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from late 19th c. Of or pertaining to an entrance or threshold.
• from late 19th c. Of or pertaining to a beginning or first stage of a process.