Etymology

xenagogue

xen·a·gogue
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Today it means: One who guides strangers; a guide or tour guide. Full definition →

Ancient Greek ξεναγωγός ← Pre-Greek ← Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*h₂eǵ-“to drive”
  2. Pre-Greek · derived from
  3. Ancient Greek · learned borrowing fromξεναγωγός
  4. English todayxenagogue

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ξεναγωγός (xenagōgós), from ξένος (xénos, “foreigner; guest; stranger”, noun) (possibly ultimately Pre-Greek) + ἀγωγός (agōgós, “(adjective) guiding, leading; (noun) escort, guide”) (from ᾰ̓́γω (ắgō, “to bring along, lead”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”)) + -ός (-ós, suffix forming agentive or patientive adjectives and nouns)). By surface analysis, xen- (prefix meaning ‘relating to foreigners or strangers’) + -agogue (suffix denoting something leading to another thing).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*h₂eǵ- all →

cogitationagoniccogitabundonager

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.