Etymology

submotive

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English motive ← Middle English motif ← Late Latin mōtīvum
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*upó
  2. Proto-Italic*supo
  3. Latinsub
  4. Latinsub-
  5. Englishsub-
  6. Anglo-Normanmotif
  7. Middle Frenchmotif
  8. Proto-Indo-European*m(y)ewh₁-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*m(y)owh₁éyeti
  10. Proto-Italic*moweō
  11. Latinmoveō
  12. Latinmōtus
  13. Late Latinmōtīvum
  14. Middle Englishmotif
  15. Englishmotive
  16. English todaysubmotive

From sub- + motive.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.