English
adjective
Adjective comes from Latin adiectivus ‘added, additional’, from adiciō ‘to throw, hurl, cast or fling an object to,…’, and ultimately from iaciō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEiaciō‘throw’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEadiciō‘to throw, hurl, cast or fling an object to, towards, or at’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEadiectivus‘added, additional’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400adjectif
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation 1655adjective
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEiaciō‘throw’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEadiciō‘to throw, hurl, cast or fling an object to, towards, or at’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEadiectivus‘added, additional’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400adjectif
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation 1655adjective
Earliest quotation: 1655, Thomas Fuller, The History of the University of Cambridge: “it must be an adjective of dain”.
The story
The Latin word adiectivus in turn was a calque of Ancient Greek ἐπιθετικόν (epithetikón, “added”), a derivative of the compound verb ἐπιτίθημι (epitíthēmi), from which also comes epithet.
Linked words
through Latin iaciō ‘throw’
disease, project, ease, jet, object, adjacent, jess, injection, gist, conjecture, inject, jetty, ejaculation, ejaculate, ejection, eject, joist, jettison, subjection, interject, 31 more
Today it means
noun A word that modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes a noun’s referent.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin iaciō / adjective