Etymology
1. O.E.
filmen "membrane, skin," from W.Gmc.
*filminjan (cf. O.Fris.
filmene "skin," O.E.
fell "hide"), extended from P.Gmc.
*fello(m) "animal hide," from PIE
*pello-/*pelno- (cf. Gk.
pella, L.
pellis "skin"). Sense of "a thin coat of something" is 1577, extended by 1845 to the coating of chemical gel on photographic plates. By 1895 this also meant the coating plus the paper or celluloid. First used of "motion pictures" in 1905. The verb "to make a movie of" is from 1899.
2. Etymology tree
3. Proto-Indo-European *pel-der.
4. Proto-Germanic *felma-
5. Proto-Germanic *filmīn-
6. Old English filmen
7. Middle English filme
8. English film
9. From Middle English filme, from Old English filmen (“film, membrane, thin skin, foreskin”), from Proto-West Germanic *filmīn-, from Proto-Germanic *filmīn- (“thin skin, membrane”) (compare Proto-Germanic *felma- (“skin, hide”)), from Proto-Indo-European *pél-mo- (“membrane”), from *pel- (“to cover, skin”). Cognate with Old Frisian filmene (“thin skin, human skin”), Middle Dutch velm, vilm (“fleece, film, membrane”), Old High German felm (“peel, skin, wrap”), Old English *felma (in ǣġerfelma (“egg membrane”)). Related also to Dutch vel (“sheet, skin”), German Fell (“skin, hide, fur”), Swedish fjäll (“fur blanket, cloth, scale”), Norwegian fille (“rag, cloth”), Lithuanian plėvē (“membrane, scab”), Russian плева́ (plevá, “membrane”), Ancient Greek πέλμα (pélma, “sole of the foot”). More at fell. Sense of a thin coat of something is 1577, extended by 1845 to the coating of chemical gel on photographic plates. By 1895 this also meant the coating plus the paper or celluloid.
Verbs referencing "film"
Czech
filmovat, Dutch
filmen.