English
agency
Agency is borrowed from Medieval Latin agentia, from Latin agēns, present participle of agō ‘to act’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagō‘to act’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEagēns‘doing, acting’
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500agentia
- Englishearliest quotation 1695agency
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagō‘to act’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEagēns‘doing, acting’
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500agentia
- Englishearliest quotation 1695agency
Earliest quotation: 1695, John Woodward, (please specify the page): “A few advances there are in the following papers…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-
register, suggest, essay, acre, gesture, congestion, digest, agrarian, progesterone, gestation, ingestion, belligerent, ingest, axiomatic, agitate, samaj, gestion, gerund, agger, 128 more
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti ‘to be driving’
strategy, agony, reactionary, antagonist, axiom, antagonism, agonist, antagonize, glucagon, stratagem, agonize, 102 more
through Proto-Italic *agō ‘to drive’
reaction, actively, transaction, radioactive, inactive, retroactive, unambiguous, hyperactivity, ambiguously, 80 more
through Latin agō ‘to act, to behave’
act, action, active, activity, actual, actor, examination, examine, activate, agenda, ambiguous, squat, ambiguity, assay, enact, agile, agility, agitation, radium, actuator, actuation, cogent, reagent, inexact, actuate, redact, exigent, 96 more
through Latin agēns ‘doing, acting, making’
Today it means
noun The capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin agō / agency