English
contribution
Contribution comes from Middle English contribucioun, from Old French contribution, from Latin contribūtiō, from contribuō ‘to bring together’ (con- + tribuō ‘to bestow’).
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtribuō‘to grant, bestow’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontribuōas contribuēre‘to bring together, unite’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontribūtiō
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400contribution
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500contribucioun
- Englishearliest quotation 2019contribution
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtribuō‘to grant, bestow’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontribuōas contribuēre‘to bring together, unite’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontribūtiō
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400contribution
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500contribucioun
- Englishearliest quotation 2019contribution
Earliest quotation: 2019, Joscelyn Duffy, The Power of Perspective Taking: “Whether we believe in the power of our daily…”
Equivalent to contribute + -ion
Proto-Indo-European *tréyes ‘three’
…
Latin tribus ‘tribe’
Latin tribuō ‘to bestow’
Latin contribuō ‘to bring together; to unite’
Latin contribūtus ‘contributed’
English contribute
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to be, become, grow, appear’
be, been, power, possible, future, present, physical, build, improve, presence, bound, bond, essential, absence, bush, physician, booth, approve, probability, favorable, absent, entity, fiat, favourable, bouquet, bun, imp, bower, rebuke, impossibility, impotent, aren, beamer, bosque, phylogeny, physic, phylum, boor, bist, busk, 82 more
through Latin tribus ‘one of the three original tribes of Rome:…’
distribution, tribe, tribal, tribute, tribunal, tribune, 5 more
through Latin tribuō ‘to grant, bestow, assign, attribute’
Today it means
noun Something given or offered that adds to a larger whole.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin tribuō / contribution