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evaporatio

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word evaporatio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
4 BC–65 AD Seneca, Natural Questions More words from the 1st century BC
Ultimate origin
Latin vapor
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin vapor
English vapor
Latin vapōrō
Latin ēvapōrō
Latin ēvapōrātiō
English evaporation
From the same root
Latin vapidus ← vapor

Forms

ēvapōrātiō f (genitive ēvapōrātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ēvapōrō (“to evaporate”) + -tiō.[2][1][3] The verb is made from ex- and vapor (“steam”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Seneca's Natural Questions on,[3][2] where it means the exhalation of vapour from the earth.[2] Seneca lived 4 BC–65 AD.[5]

Semantic evolution

Seneca counts the evaporation of the waters and the earth among the causes of wind,[2] and Gellius uses it of snow.[6][2] In medical Latin it was also a term for a warm fomentation.[3][7]

Medieval scholars used it widely in natural philosophy, for evaporation and exhalation and, by metonymy, for vapour itself.[7][8] English borrowed evaporation in the late 14th century.[4]

Timeline

  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of vapours from the earth.[2][5]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of snow.[6][5]
  • 13th century – Albertus Magnus uses it in his works on nature.[7][5]
  • late 14th century – English borrows it as evaporation.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The emission of vapour, evaporation, exhalation.[2][6]
  2. (medicine) A fomentation.[3][7]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Vapour, fume.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
Cite this entry

“Evaporatio.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/evaporatio. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·