Etymograph

English

ambilevous

Ambilevous comes from Latin ambilaevus ‘having two left hands’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *leh₂iwos.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leh₂iwosreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElaevus‘left’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEambilaevus‘having two left hands’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1650ambilevous

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leh₂iwosreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElaevus‘left’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEambilaevus‘having two left hands’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1650ambilevous

Earliest quotation: 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […]: “Again, Some are Ἀμφαριστεροὶ as Galen hath expreſſed :…”

first attested First attested in English in 1646: from Latin ambilaevus (ambi- (“both”) + laevus (“left”)), a calque of Ancient Greek ἀμφαρίστερος (ampharísteros, “with two left hands, awkward, clumsy”) from ἀμφί (amphí, “on both sides”) + ἀριστερός (aristerós, “left”) (as stated in the etymology)

The story

First attested in English in 1646: from Latin ambilaevus (ambi- (‘both’) + laevus (‘left’)), a calque of Ancient Greek ἀμφαρίστερος (ampharísteros, “with two left hands, awkward, clumsy”) from ἀμφί (amphí, “on both sides”) + ἀριστερός (aristerós, “left”).

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂iwos

Today it means

adj Having equally bad ability in both hands; clumsy; butterfingered.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *leh₂iwos / ambilevous

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