Etymograph

English

tufa

Tufa comes from Italian tufo ‘tuff’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- ‘to swell’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tewh₂-1‘to swell’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tūβos1uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtōfus2‘tuff’
  4. Italianc. 1300–presenttufo2‘tuff’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1993tufa2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin tofus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English tufa
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1993, George V. Benson, Meeting Highlights: “B.J. Szabo presented the results of a survey of…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tewh₂-Wiktionary, Latin tofus‘to swell’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tūβosWiktionary, Latin tofusuncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtōfusWiktionary, English tufa‘tuff’
  4. Italianc. 1300–presenttufoWiktionary, English tufa‘tuff’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1993tufaWiktionary, English tufa. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1993, George V. Benson, Meeting Highlights: “B.J. Szabo presented the results of a survey of…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- ‘to swell’

butter, tomb, tumor, soma, tumour, trifle, tyrosine, tumultuous, tumult, madrasa, turgid, tubercle, 42 more

through Proto-Italic *tūβos

truffle, tuber, 6 more

through Italian tufo ‘tuff’

tuff

Today it means

noun Calcareous lime deposited by precipitation from a body of water, such as a hot spring.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tufa”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin tofus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- / tufa

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