Etymology

proto-language

Today it means: A language which is reconstructed by examining similarities in existing languages in order to deduce the form and aspects of a common ancestor language that is no longer known. Full definition →

English language ← Middle English langage ← Old French language
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-der.?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*pér
  3. Proto-Indo-European*pró
  4. Ancient Greekπρό (pró)
  5. Ancient Greekπρῶτος (prôtos)
  6. Ancient Greekπρωτο- (prōto-)
  7. Englishproto-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s
  9. Proto-Italic*dn̥ɣwā
  10. Latindingua
  11. Latinlingua
  12. Vulgar Latin*linguāticum
  13. Old Frenchlanguage
  14. Middle Englishlangage
  15. Englishlanguage
  16. English todayproto-language

From proto- + language.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.