Latin etymology in numbers
Counted from the etymologies of the 11,738 Latin entries in this dictionary, and recounted every few hours as entries are added. See also Latin words by origin.
Borrowed, inherited or formed
Each entry counted once: as borrowed if its etymology names a language it was taken from, else as inherited, else as formed within Latin.
- Borrowed 9% · 1,075 taken from another language
- Inherited 11% · 1,237 passed down from an ancestor of Latin
- Formed in Latin 49% · 5,728 compounds and derivatives of its own words
- Not traced yet 32% · 3,698 no etymology links yet
Ultimate origins by language family
Where the 3,031 traced words end up when their etymologies are followed back as far as they go, from entry to entry, grouped into families and the branches of Indo-European.
- Italic 990 · 33% Proto-Italic 494 · Latin 480 · Old French 9 · Old Latin 3 …
- Indo-European 973 · 32% Proto-Indo-European 973
- Hellenic 822 · 27% Ancient Greek 808 · Proto-Hellenic 8 · Byzantine Greek 6
- Germanic 37 · 1% Proto-Germanic 26 · Old High German 5 · Old English 3 · Old Norse 1 …
- Celtic 35 · 1% Gaulish 26 · Proto-Celtic 6 · Celtic 2 · Proto-Brythonic 1
- Afroasiatic 34 · 1% Arabic 11 · Egyptian 9 · Biblical Hebrew 6 · Phoenician 5 …
- Indo-Iranian 6 · 0% Old Persian 2 · Middle Persian 2 · Proto-Iranian 1 · Sanskrit 1
- Balto-Slavic 1 · 0% Old East Slavic 1
- Unclassified 133 · 4% Pre-Greek 87 · Frankish 25 · Etruscan 12 · Iberian 2 …
When the words arrived
The 7,592 entries with a first-attestation date, by century and by the language each was borrowed from.
- Greek
- Frankish
- Gaulish
- Arabic
- French
- Other borrowings
- Inherited or formed
- Not traced
Show as a table
| Century | Greek | Frankish | Gaulish | Arabic | French | Other borrowings | Inherited or formed | Not traced | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11th century BC | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| 7th century BC | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| 5th century BC | 2 | 1 | 71 | 30 | 104 | ||||
| 4th century BC | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| 3rd century BC | 183 | 4 | 10 | 2170 | 915 | 3282 | |||
| 2nd century BC | 86 | 4 | 4 | 604 | 138 | 836 | |||
| 1st century BC | 171 | 1 | 4 | 1773 | 245 | 2194 | |||
| 1st century | 66 | 4 | 2 | 123 | 20 | 215 | |||
| 2nd century | 42 | 105 | 6 | 153 | |||||
| 3rd century | 16 | 2 | 1 | 70 | 8 | 97 | |||
| 4th century | 57 | 1 | 3 | 133 | 11 | 205 | |||
| 5th century | 15 | 1 | 47 | 7 | 70 | ||||
| 6th century | 14 | 4 | 3 | 48 | 6 | 75 | |||
| 7th century | 2 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 17 | ||||
| 8th century | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 10 | 36 | ||
| 9th century | 1 | 4 | 1 | 29 | 1 | 36 | |||
| 10th century | 1 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 19 | |||
| 11th century | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 27 | 5 | 47 | |
| 12th century | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 46 | 2 | 61 | |
| 13th century | 4 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 68 | 7 | 92 | ||
| 14th century | 24 | 3 | 27 | ||||||
| 15th century | 7 | 7 | |||||||
| 16th century | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 11 | ||||
| 17th century | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| 18th century | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| 19th century | 1 | 1 |
Words other languages took from Latin
2,934 entries of other languages in this dictionary were borrowed from Latin or its earlier stages.
Most prolific roots
The words that the most Latin entries go back to, at the far end of their etymologies.
- 10 Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ-e/o- → rego, regio, dirigo, directorium …
- 6 Proto-Italic *kap-i- → capio, captus, recipio, recepta …
- 6 Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-e/o- → lego, electus, legenda, legatia …
- 4 Proto-Italic *fak-i- → facio, efficio, facienda, facibilis
- 4 Proto-Indo-European *káput → caput, -ceps, capitaneus, capitulum
- 4 Proto-Italic *kʷai-s-e/o- → quaero, quaestio, quaesitus, quaesta
- 4 Proto-Italic *lik-ē- → licet, licitus, liceor, licens
- 4 Proto-Indo-European *spond-eie/o- → sponsus, spondeo, respondeo, responsivus
- 3 Proto-Indo-European *bʰleuH- → fluo, fluens, fluentum
- 3 Proto-Indo-European *bʰoi-ko- → fucus, fuco, fucatus
- 3 Proto-Indo-European *h₁legʷʰ-u- → levis, levo, levata
- 3 Proto-Indo-European *h₁rudʰéh₁ti → rubeus, rubeo, rubens
- 3 Proto-Indo-European *h₁u(e)h₂-sto- → vastus, vasto, vastum
- 3 Proto-Indo-European *h₂eig-ro- → aegrotus, aeger, aegroto
- 3 Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-e/o- → ago, agens, actio
Longest journeys
The Latin words whose etymologies pass through the most languages, followed from entry to entry.
- plana 3 languages
Latin plano ← Latin planus ← Proto-Italic *plāno- ← Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₂-nó- ← Ancient Greek πλάνος
- aether 3 languages
Ancient Greek αἰθήρ ← Ancient Greek αἴθω ← Proto-Hellenic *áitʰō ← Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydʰ-
- muscus 3 languages
Proto-Indo-European *mews- ← Ancient Greek μόσχος ← Proto-Indo-European *mosǵʰ-o- ← Middle Persian mušk
- plano 3 languages
Latin planus ← Proto-Italic *plāno- ← Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₂-nó- ← Ancient Greek πλάνος
- theca 3 languages
Ancient Greek θήκη ← Ancient Greek τίθημι ← Proto-Hellenic *títʰēmi ← Proto-Indo-European *dʰí-dʰeh₁-mi
- aster 3 languages
Ancient Greek ἀστήρ ← Proto-Hellenic *astḗr ← Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr
- balanus 3 languages
Ancient Greek βάλανος ← Proto-Hellenic *gʷə́lanos ← Proto-Indo-European *gʷelh₂-
- ballista 3 languages
Ancient Greek βάλλω ← Proto-Hellenic *gʷəlnō ← Proto-Indo-European *gʷl̥-ne-h₁-
- basis 3 languages
Ancient Greek βάσις ← Proto-Hellenic *gʷə́tis ← Proto-Indo-European *gʷémtis
- cara 3 languages
Ancient Greek κάρα ← Proto-Hellenic *kárahə ← Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂-(e)s-n-