Etymograph

English

conscience

Conscience comes from Latin conscientia ‘knowledge within oneself’, from cōnsciēns ‘conscious’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *skey- ‘to split, to dissect’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skey-‘to split, to dissect’next step skipped: Latin cōnsciō
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnsciēns‘conscious’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEconscientia‘knowledge within oneself’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400conscience
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500conscience
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602conscience

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skey-‘to split, to dissect’next step skipped: Latin cōnsciō
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnsciēns‘conscious’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEconscientia‘knowledge within oneself’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400conscience
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500conscience
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602conscience

Earliest quotation: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *skey- ‘to split, to dissect’

nice, ship, equipment, shift, shed, skip, kyle, scientific, ski, shin, squire, sheath, skeet, skiff, scuttle, chine, skein, prescient, scullery, shud, omniscience, prescience, 43 more

Today it means

noun The ethical or moral sense of right and wrong, chiefly as it affects a person’s own behaviour and forms their attitude to their past actions.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *skey- / conscience

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