Etymograph

English

amenity

Amenity comes from Latin amoenitās ‘pleasantness, delightfulness’, and goes back to amoenus.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEamoenus‘pleasant, delightful’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEamoenitās‘pleasantness, delightfulness’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600amenité
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500amenite
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1834amenity

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEamoenus‘pleasant, delightful’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEamoenitās‘pleasantness, delightfulness’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600amenité
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500amenite
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1834amenity

Earliest quotation: 1834, George Bancroft, Spaniards in the United States: “The harbor of Port Royal, rendered gloomy by recollections…”

The story

Inherited from Middle English amenite, amenyte, partly from Middle French amenité and partly from its etymon, Latin amoenitās (‘pleasantness, delightfulness’), from amoenus (‘pleasant, delightful’), of unknown origin.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Linked words

through Latin amo ‘to love’

enemy, amour, amicable, enmity, amity, inimical, 20 more

Today it means

noun Pleasantness.

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

Etymograph / Latin amoenus / amenity

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