Etymograph

English

pumice

Pumice comes from Old French pomis ‘pumice stone’, 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‘pumice stone’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400pomis‘pumice stone’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1912pumice

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‘pumice stone’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400pomis‘pumice stone’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1912pumice

Earliest quotation: 1912, Katherine Mansfield, The Woman at the Store: “The wind blew close to the ground - it…”

Linked words

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

foam, 5 more

through Latin pūmex ‘pumice stone’

pounce, 1 more

Today it means

noun A light, porous type of pyroclastic igneous rock, formed during explosive volcanic eruptions when liquid lava is ejected into water or air as a froth containing masses of gas bubbles, which are frozen into the rock as the lava solidifies.

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

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

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