terraqueous

The story

1. Latin · derived fromaqua“water”
2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*ters-“dry”
3. Latin · derived fromterra“dry land; earth, soil”
4. Late Latin · learned borrowing fromterraqueus
5. English todayterraqueous

PIE word *h₂ékʷeh₂ Learned borrowing from Late Latin terraqueus + English -ous (suffix denoting the presence of a quality in any degree, usually an abundance). Terraqueus is derived from Latin terra (“dry land; earth, soil”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ters- (“dry”)) + Late Latin aqueus (“aqueous; watery”) (from Latin aqua (“water”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ékʷeh₂ (“water”)) + -eus (suffix forming adjectives from nouns denoting the sources of attributes)).

Words from the same roots