windex
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Root
kuvhuvhuta
to blow, of wind; to gust, to puff
Windex descends through window and *h2weh1- to Shona kuvhuvhuta, to blow
- Confidence
- 61/100
- Root language
- Shona
- Descent begins
- WindexEnglish
The consensus position
Mainstream comparative linguistics holds that Windex is a 1933 American trade name coined by the Drackett company from the clipped first element of window plus the commercial suffix -ex, with window itself borrowed from Old Norse vindauga "wind-eye" and its first element from Proto-Germanic *windaz, Proto-Indo-European *h2weh1- "to blow". No relationship to Shona is proposed.
The working behind this.
The full descent — 10 links from the attested form down to the root — the segment-by-segment correspondences, the phonological breakdown and the case for the derivation are behind an account.
An account opens 10 entries in full, free.