Etymograph

English

pounce

Pounce comes from French ponce ‘pumice’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)poH(y)- ‘foam’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)poH(y)-‘foam’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*poimeksreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpūmex‘a pumice stone’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentponce‘pumice’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2021pounce

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)poH(y)-‘foam’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*poimeksreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpūmex‘a pumice stone’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentponce‘pumice’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2021pounce

Earliest quotation: 2021, A. K. Blakemore, The Manningtree Witches: “At the Thorn, or at a meagre kitchen table,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)poH(y)- ‘foam’

foam, 5 more

through Latin pūmex ‘a pumice stone’

pumice, 1 more

Another origin of pounce

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpantexas panticem‘belly, paunch, guts’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400pance‘stomach’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pauncheas pounce‘stomach, belly’
  4. Englishtodaypounce

Possibly from Old French ponchonner (compare French poinçonner).

Today it means

noun A type of fine powder, as of sandarac, or cuttlefish bone, sprinkled over wet ink to dry the ink after writing or on rough paper to smooth the writing surface.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)poH(y)- / pounce

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