English
cause
Cause comes from Old French cause ‘a cause, a thing’, and goes back to Latin causa.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcausa‘reason’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400cause‘a cause’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cause
- Englishearliest quotation 1590cause
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcausa‘reason’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400cause‘a cause’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cause
- Englishearliest quotation 1590cause
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto IX: “He, to shifte their curious request, / Gan causen…”
Linked words
through Old Latin caussa
through Latin causa ‘reason, sake, cause’
chest, chose, accusation, accuse, syllabus, inexcusable, causal, accusative, excusable, causative, 23 more
Today it means
noun The source of, or reason for, an event or action; that which produces or effects a result.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin causa / cause