English
Optimus
Optimus comes from Latin bonus ‘good, honest, brave, noble, kind, pleasant’, and goes back to Proto-Italic *dwenos.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dwenos‘good’reconstructed
- Archaic Latinc. 700–75 BCEduenos
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEduonus
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbonusas optimus‘good, honest, brave, noble, kind, pleasant’
- EnglishtodayOptimus
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dwenos‘good’reconstructed
- Archaic Latinc. 700–75 BCEduenos
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEduonus
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbonusas optimus‘good, honest, brave, noble, kind, pleasant’
- EnglishtodayOptimus
The story
Popularized by the fictional robot character Optimus Prime in the 1980s.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ‘to fit’
down, town, tool, teen, dynamic, dynasty, tow, dun, dynamo, dynastic, tine, taw, beaucoup, beauteous, 93 more
through Proto-Italic *dwenos ‘good’
beautiful, beauty, rebellion, boo, beau, rebellious, bello, rebelling, benefice, bauble, 38 more
through Archaic Latin duenos
ben, beneficial, rebel, beneficiary, revel, bene, bellicose, 39 more
through Latin bonus ‘good, honest, brave, noble, kind, pleasant’
Today it means
name A pet name for a device, such as a car, computer, or robot.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *dwenos / Optimus