English
Tesla
Tesla comes from Serbo-Croatian Tesla//Тесла, from Proto-Slavic *tesla ‘adze’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tetḱ- ‘to create, produce’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tetḱ-‘to create, produce’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*tetḱ-(dʰ)lo-reconstructed
- Proto-Slavicc. 400–900 CE*tesla‘adze’reconstructed
- Serbo-CroatianmodernTesla//Тесла
- Englishearliest quotation 2017Tesla
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tetḱ-‘to create, produce’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*tetḱ-(dʰ)lo-reconstructed
- Proto-Slavicc. 400–900 CE*tesla‘adze’reconstructed
- Serbo-CroatianmodernTesla//Тесла
- Englishearliest quotation 2017Tesla
Earliest quotation: 2017, David Joland, CreateSpace: “If they happen to have shares worth a couple…”
The story
The noun sense is from the automotive company Tesla, Inc., which was named as a tribute to Nikola Tesla.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *tetḱ- ‘to create, produce’
technical, technique, architecture, arch, textile, pretext, polytechnic, tectonics, tassie, technic, technetium, tela, 15 more
Today it means
name A surname from Serbo-Croatian.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *tetḱ- / Tesla