English
Titanic
Titanic may come from Late Latin Titanicus.
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CETitanicusuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1818Titanic
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CETitanicusuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1818Titanic
Earliest quotation: 1818, Lord Byron, Canto IV: “Rome—Rome imperial, bows her to the storm, / In…”
The story
The English word is analyzable as Titan + -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives from nouns).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- ‘to pay’
pain, penalty, poetry, poem, poet, punishment, pine, punish, penal, subpoena, whey, punitive, impunity, onomatopoeia, 23 more
through Ancient Greek τείνω ‘to stretch, extend’
Today it means
adj Of or relating to the Titans, a race of giant gods in Greek mythology.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Late Latin Titanicus / Titanic