Etymology
1. Etymology tree
2. Proto-Indo-European *sḗh₂l
3. Proto-Italic *sāls
4. Latin sāl
5. Pre-Greekder.?
6. Ancient Greek πέτρᾱ (pétrā)bor.
7. Latin petrae
8. Medieval Latin sāl petrae
9. Old French salpetrebor.
10. Middle English saltpetre
11. English (salt)peter?
12. Proto-Indo-European *pesd-
13. Proto-Indo-European *-eti
14. Proto-Indo-European *pésdeti
15. Proto-Italic *pezdō
16. Latin pēdō
17. Proto-Indo-European *-tósder.
18. Latin -ītum
19. Latin pēditum
20. Old French pet
21. Middle French pet
22. French pet
23. Proto-Italic *-āzi
24. ▲
25. Latin -ereinflu.
26. Latin -āre
27. Old French -ier
28. Middle French -er
29. French -er
30. French péterbor.?
31. English peter
32. Unknown; the following etymologies have been suggested:
33. * From peter (“to stop (doing or saying something)”) (slang, obsolete, rare).
34. * Since the word was first used in mining contexts, either:
35. ** from French péter (“to explode; to break wind, fart”) (slang), from pet (“emission of digestive gases from the anus, flatus, fart”) (slang), from Latin pēditum (“flatus, fart”), from pēdō (“to break wind, fart”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pesd- (“to break wind softly”), probably imitative; or
36. ** from (salt)peter, a variant of saltpetre (“potassium nitrate”) (the key ingredient in gunpowder), from Middle English salpeter, salpetre [and other forms] with the first element influenced by salt, from Old French salpetre (modern French salpêtre), from Medieval Latin salpetra, from Latin sāl petrae (literally “salt of stone”) (as potassium nitrate occurs encrusted on some stones), from sāl (“salt”) + petrae (the nominative or vocative plural of petra (“rock; stone”), from Ancient Greek πέτρᾱ (pétrā, “rock formation; stone”)). See: French '
péter', French '
salpêtre'.