Etymograph

English

debate

Debate comes from Middle English debaten, from Old French debatre ‘to fight, contend’, from Romance *desbattere, from Latin dis- + battuō ‘to beat’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbattuō‘to beat; to fence’
  2. Romanicmoderndesbattere
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400debatre‘to fight, contend’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500debaten
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590debate

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbattuō‘to beat; to fence’
  2. Romanicmoderndesbattere
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400debatre‘to fight, contend’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500debaten
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590debate

Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene: “Well knew they both his person, sith of late…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- ‘in two, apart’

dissuade, 12 more

through Proto-Italic *dis-

discover, discipline, disciplinary, disguise, dissent, disciple, diffuse, diss, defraud, 13 more

Another origin of debate

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500debat
  2. Englishtodaydebate

Today it means

verb To participate in a debate; to dispute, argue, especially in a public arena.

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

Etymograph / Latin battuō / debate

Shirt and support for this word