gravito

Forms

gravitō (present infinitive gravitāre, perfect active gravitāvī, supine gravitātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin gravis (“heavy”) + -itō, formed in New Latin, or else a back-formation from gravitās (“heaviness, weight”).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is attested from the 1520s in the works of Agostino Nifo, in the scientific sense of tending downward under its own weight.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The word belonged to the scientific Latin of the 16th and 17th centuries.^[2][1] English took it over as gravitate in the 1640s, “to exert weight, move downward”; the sense “to be affected by gravity” followed in the 1690s.^[2]

Timeline

• 1520s – Agostino Nifo uses the verb.^[1]
• 1640s – English borrows it as gravitate, “to exert weight”.^[2]
• 1690s – English gravitate comes to mean to be affected by gravity.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (New Latin, science) To gravitate, tend downward under the influence of gravity.^[1][2]

Related words

• gravis
• gravitas
• English gravitate

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com