Etymology and origin of the Latin word anomalia
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Borrowing
- First attested
- 116–27 BC Varro More words from the 2nd century BC
- Borrowed from
- Ancient Greek ἀνωμαλία
- Ultimate origin
- Ancient Greek ἀνωμαλία
Etymology tree
Forms
anōmalia f (genitive anōmaliae); first declension[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀνωμαλία (anōmalía, “unevenness, irregularity”),[2][3][4] the noun of ἀνώμαλος (anṓmalos, “uneven”), which is formed from ἀ- (a-, “not”) and ὁμαλός (homalós, “even”).[4][5]
Earliest recorded meaning
Varro (116–27 BC) uses it in his work on the Latin language for irregularity in word forms, the opposite of analogia.[6][7][4]
Semantic evolution
It remained a term of grammar: Varro sets the anomalia of usage against analogy, and Gellius discusses the same dispute.[8][7][9] Georges notes that the native Latin word for it was inaequalitas.[7]
English anomaly was taken from it in the 1570s, first meaning “unevenness”.[5]
Timeline
- 116–27 BC – Varro uses it for irregularity in word forms.[6][4]
- c. 165 AD – Gellius discusses analogy and anomaly.[7][4]
- 1570s – English borrows it as anomaly.[5]
Meanings
Noun
- (grammar) Irregularity, anomaly, deviation from the rule in word forms.[2][6][7]
Related words
References
- ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
- ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
Related etymologies
- patriarcha · also from Greek
- microscopium · also from Greek
- arteria · also from Greek
- anachoreta · also from Greek
- alleluia · also from Greek
- palladium · also from Greek
- colon · also from Greek
- peripheria · also from Greek
Cite this entry
“Anomalia.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/anomalia. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.
Last edited on . ·