English
assert
Assert comes from Latin assertus ‘declared free, set free, liberated, having…’, and goes back to asserō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEasserō‘declare someone free or a slave by laying hands upon him’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEassertus‘declared free, set free, liberated, having been liberated’perfect passive participle of asserō
- Englishearliest quotation 2012assert
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEasserō‘declare someone free or a slave by laying hands upon him’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEassertus‘declared free, set free, liberated, having been liberated’perfect passive participle of asserō
- Englishearliest quotation 2012assert
Earliest quotation: 2012, -April, Do I See What You See?: “Numerous experimental tests and other observations have been offered…”
A compound of ad ‘to’ + serō ‘join, range in a row’
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd ‘near, at’
Proto-Italic *ad ‘toward, to, on, up to, for’
Latin ad ‘to’
Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to flow’
Proto-Indo-European *séreti
Proto-Italic *serō ‘to join, bind, link’
Latin serō ‘join, range in a row’
Every English word from Latin asserō
Today it means
verb To declare with assurance or plainly and strongly; to state positively.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin asserō / assert