chiton

The Greek tunic, khitṓn, carries the Near Eastern word for linen (Akkadian kitû, Aramaic kittānā, Hebrew kuttōnet 'tunic'), and Mycenaean scribes already wrote it ki-to. Naturalists later gave the name to armoured sea molluscs, and chemists built 'chitin' from it.

Weakest linkProbable

The road to English

From Akkadian to Syriac, Arabic, Persian

From Ancient Greek to Modern Greek

From Ancient Greek to Old Church Slavonic, Russian

From Ancient Greek to French, English

2000 BCEAkkadian

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

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