Drag to pan · scroll to zoom
Drag to rotate
Tracing “”…
Where does the word "polyglot" come from? It comes from Greek polyglōttos, passing through French before entering English (1640s).
Read the full story
Where does the word "polyglot" come from? It comes from Greek polyglōttos, passing through French before entering English (1640s).
Polyglot’s story begins in Greek: polyglōttos meant “many-tongued.” 'many-tongued'. By 1600s, the word had taken hold in French as polyglotte. A multilingual book or person. It reached English by 1640s as polyglot. Famous 'polyglot Bibles', such as the London Polyglot of 1657, printed the text in several languages side by side. Today, polyglot means knowing or using several languages.
- Stage 1 · Greek · ancient polyglōttos "many-tongued", 'many-tongued'.
- Stage 2 · French · 1600s polyglotte "polyglot", a multilingual book or person.
- Stage 3 · English · 1640s polyglot "multilingual", famous 'polyglot Bibles', such as the London Polyglot of 1657, printed the text in several languages side by side.