English
compensatory
Compensatory comes from French compenser ‘to compensate for, to offset’, and goes back to Latin pensō ‘to weigh’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpensō‘to weigh’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcompēnsāre
- Frenchc. 1600–presentcompenser‘to compensate for, to offset’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentcompensatoire
- Englishearliest quotation 1978compensatory
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpensō‘to weigh’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcompēnsāre
- Frenchc. 1600–presentcompenser‘to compensate for, to offset’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentcompensatoire
- Englishearliest quotation 1978compensatory
Earliest quotation: 1978, 1976, Leszek Kołakowski: “As long as the oppressed class does not possess…”
Equivalent to compensate + -ory
Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- ‘to stretch’
…
Latin pendō ‘to weigh, weigh out’
Latin pēnsō ‘to weigh, counterbalance’
Latin compensō ‘to weight together one thing against another,…’
Latin compēnsātus
English compensate
Linked words
through Latin pensō ‘to weigh’
Today it means
adj Intended to recompense someone who has experienced loss, suffering, or injury.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin pensō / compensatory