English
comment
Comment comes from Middle English coment, from Old French coment ‘commentary’, from Late Latin commentum ‘interpretation’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommentum‘invention, fabrication’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcommentum‘comment, interpretation’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400coment‘commentary’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500coment
- Englishearliest quotation 1907comment
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommentum‘invention, fabrication’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcommentum‘comment, interpretation’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400coment‘commentary’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500coment
- Englishearliest quotation 1907comment
Earliest quotation: 1907, Robert William Chambers, New York: “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *men- ‘to think, mind’
money, music, mind, amount, mouth, remain, museum, mountain, monster, auto, min, monitor, mount, permanent, mental, mention, monetary, demonstration, monk, maya, mint, monastery, amnesty, muse, mosaic, ming, mas, mandarin, monte, mania, muster, monstrous, monument, amnesia, summon, manic, mantra, mentor, prominence, dementia, 127 more
Another origin of comment
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*men-‘to think, mind’root as named
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcomminīscor‘devise, contrive, invent’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcommentoras commentārī‘to consider thoroughly, think over, discuss, write upon’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500commenten
- Englishtodaycomment
Today it means
noun A spoken or written remark.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin commentum / comment