Etymograph

English

collect

Collect comes from Middle English collecten, from Old French collecter, from Medieval Latin collectō, from Latin collecta, from colligō ‘to gather together’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leǵ-‘to gather’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElegō‘to gather’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcolligō‘to gather together’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcollectus
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcollecta‘a collection of money’
  6. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500collectō‘to collect money’
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400collecter
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500collecten
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1690collect

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leǵ-‘to gather’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElegō‘to gather’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcolligō‘to gather together’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcollectus
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcollecta‘a collection of money’
  6. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500collectō‘to collect money’
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400collecter
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500collecten
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1690collect

Earliest quotation: 1690, John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding: “[…] which consequence, I conceive, is very ill collected.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to gather, collect’

technology, election, elite, logic, lesson, eligible, catalogue, trilogy, apology, select, elegant, analogy, negligence, legion, sociology, terminology, logos, coil, physiology, pathology, negligent, elect, diligent, negligible, astrology, epilogue, logistic, monologue, prologue, eulogy, leach, pathologist, archaeologist, lexical, etymology, epistemology, lexicon, cull, entomology, cosmology, 175 more

through Latin legere ‘to gather’

legume, 4 more

Another origin of collect

  1. Ecclesiastical Latinc. 200–1500collēcta‘assembly’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500collecte
  3. Englishtodaycollect

Today it means

verb To gather together; amass.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- / collect

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