six-course

The compound adjective 'six-course' is a transparent numerical descriptor formed within Modern English. Its first element, 'six', descends from a stable Proto-Indo-European numeral s(w)eḱs, preserved in Latin 'sex' and Greek 'hex'. The second element, 'course', has a more dynamic history, originating from the Latin 'currere' (to run), which evolved to mean a path or sequence. By the 14th century, via Old French, it acquired the specific culinary sense of a served dish or a stage within a meal's progression. Thus, 'six-course' logically combines an ancient numeral with a term for a sequential stage to precisely denote a meal composed of six distinct parts.

Structure: six (number) + course (part of a meal) - six: From Old English 'siex', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch 'zes' and German 'sechs', from an Indo-European root shared by Latin 'sex' and Greek 'hex'. Functions as a numerical quantifier. - course: From Old French 'cours', from Latin 'cursus' (a running, journey, track), from the verb 'currere' (to run). In this context, it functions to denote a distinct stage or part of a sequence, especially of dishes served in a meal.