The story
- Latin · derived fromsustinere
- Vulgar Latin · derived from*sustenire
- Old French · derived fromsustenance
- Middle English · inherited fromsustenaunce
- English todaysustenance
From Middle English sustenaunce, from Old French sustenance, from sustenir with the suffix -ance, from Vulgar Latin *sustenire, from Latin sustinere. Compare also Late Latin sustinentia. Equivalent to sustain + -ance.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.