English
abject
Abject comes from Middle French abject, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- ‘to throw’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(H)yeh₁-‘to throw’root as named · steps between not traced
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600abject
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500abiect
- Englishearliest quotation 1526abject
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(H)yeh₁-‘to throw’root as named · steps between not traced
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600abject
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500abiect
- Englishearliest quotation 1526abject
Earliest quotation: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “Nevertheleſſe he thatt comfortith the abiecte⸝ comforted vs at…”
The story
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English abiect, abject (adjective) [and other forms], from Middle French abject (modern French abject, abjet (obsolete)), and from its etymon Latin abiectus (‘abandoned; cast aside’), an adjective use of the perfect passive participle of abiciō (‘to discard, throw away’), from ab- (prefix meaning ‘away from’) + iaciō (‘to throw’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- (‘to throw’)).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- ‘to throw’
year, hour, disease, project, ease, adjacent, jet, objective, object, injection, jess, catheter, gist, trajectory, ejaculation, enema, conjecture, jetty, inject, ejaculate, jut, ejection, iambic, jettison, joist, eject, jetsam, interject, subjection, 42 more
Today it means
adj Existing in or sunk to a low condition, position, or state; contemptible, despicable, miserable.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- / abject