English
assail
Assail comes from Late Latin assalīre.
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEassalīre
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400assaillir
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500assailen‘to assail or assault’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590assail
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEassalīre
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400assaillir
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500assailen‘to assail or assault’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590assail
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto VI: “With greedy force he gan the fort assayle, /…”
A compound of ad ‘at, towards’ + salīre ‘jump’
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd ‘near, at’
Proto-Italic *ad ‘toward, to, on, up to, for’
Latin ad ‘at, towards’
Linked words
through Late Latin assalīre
Today it means
verb To attack with harsh words or violent force.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Late Latin assalīre / assail