Etymograph

English

pillion

Pillion comes from Scottish Gaelic pillean ‘little rug’, from Latin pellis ‘animal skin, pelt’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- ‘to cover, wrap’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-‘to cover, wrap’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-ni-s‘to cover, wrap’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pelnis‘skin’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellis‘animal skin, pelt’
  5. Scottish Gaelicmodernpillean‘little rug’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1764pillion

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-‘to cover, wrap’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-ni-s‘to cover, wrap’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pelnis‘skin’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellis‘animal skin, pelt’
  5. Scottish Gaelicmodernpillean‘little rug’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1764pillion

Earliest quotation: 1764, Dennis Donovan, Jacob Andrews Woodward: “Accordingly, he saddled and pillioned his horse, thinking he…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pel- ‘to cover, wrap’

felt, simple, simply, film, push, powder, complain, fold, filter, pulse, repeal, flaw, palate, pillow, compulsive, expel, pollen, repel, palpable, propel, palatable, palladium, pelt, pall, polemic, wallow, peloton, tuple, palatal, muffle, apoplexy, peplum, pulver, palp, pollinate, interpolate, 63 more

through Latin pellis ‘animal skin, pelt’

pell, 6 more

Today it means

noun A pad behind the saddle of a horse for a second rider.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pel- / pillion

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