English
compression
Compression comes from Latin compressiō ‘squeezing, compression’, and goes back to premō ‘to press’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpremō‘to press’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcomprimō‘to compress’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcompressiō‘squeezing, compression’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600compression
- Englishearliest quotation 2011compression
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpremō‘to press’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcomprimō‘to compress’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcompressiō‘squeezing, compression’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600compression
- Englishearliest quotation 2011compression
Earliest quotation: 2011, Marcelo A. Montemurro, Universal Entropy of Word Ordering Across Linguistic Familie: “Due to the presence of long-range correlations in language…”
Formed from compress + -ion
Latin premō ‘press’
…
Latin compressus
Late Latin compressare ‘to press hard/together’
Old French compresser
Middle English compressen
English compress
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pres- ‘to press’
first, expression, frist, impressionable, impressionist, impressionism, 30 more
through Proto-Italic *pres-
pressure, express, impressive, depression, impression, impress, oppression, suppression, depressive, depress, repress, 35 more
through Latin premō ‘to press’
press, pregnant, imprint, sprain, reprimand, imprimatur, 46 more
Today it means
noun An increase in density; the act of compressing, or the state of being compressed; compaction.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin premō / compression