English
cohesion
Cohesion comes from Latin cohaesiō, from cohaereō ‘to cling, cleave or stick (closely) together’, and ultimately from haereō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhaereō‘to stick, stick fast’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcohaereō‘to cling, cleave or stick (closely) together’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcohaesiō
- Frenchc. 1600–presentcohésion
- Englishearliest quotation 1905cohesion
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhaereō‘to stick, stick fast’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcohaereō‘to cling, cleave or stick (closely) together’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcohaesiō
- Frenchc. 1600–presentcohésion
- Englishearliest quotation 1905cohesion
Earliest quotation: 1905, Jack London, (please specify the page): “For divers reasons, the capitalist class lacks this cohesion…”
The story
Attested from the late 17th century, borrowed from French cohésion, from Latin cohaesiō, cohaesiōnem.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʰays- ‘to adhere, to stick, to be fixed’
adherence, adherent, hesitantly, 19 more
through Latin haereō ‘to stick, stick fast’
adhere, hesitate, hesitant, adhesive, hesitation, adhesion, hesitancy, 23 more
through Latin cohaereō ‘to cling, cleave or stick (closely) together’
Today it means
noun State of cohering, or of working together.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin haereō / cohesion