serpent

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*serp-
2. Proto-Indo-European*sérpeti
3. Proto-Italic*serpō
4. Latinserpō
5. Latinserpēns
6. Old Frenchserpent
7. Middle Englishserpent
8. English todayserpent

From Middle English serpent, from Old French serpent (“snake, serpent”), from Latin serpēns (“snake”), present active participle of serpere (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-Italic *serpō, from Proto-Indo-European *serp-. In this sense, displaced native Old English nǣdre (“snake, serpent”), whence Modern English adder. Compare Sanskrit सर्प (sarpa, “snake”), which is a descendant of the same Proto-Indo-European word as serpent.

Words from the same roots