English
detective
Detective comes from Classical Latin dētegō ‘to detect’, from Latin tegō ‘cover, hide’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)teg-‘to cover’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tegō‘to cover’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtegō‘cover, hide’
- Classical Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdētegō‘to detect’
- Englishearliest quotation 1887detective
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)teg-‘to cover’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tegō‘to cover’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtegō‘cover, hide’
- Classical Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdētegō‘to detect’
- Englishearliest quotation 1887detective
Earliest quotation: 1887, Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet: “[…] Sherlock Holmes remarked calmly. […] "Well, I have…”
Formed from -ive
The story
Noun sense 1 is an ellipsis of detective policeman, detective officer, or a similar construction. The later more general noun sense 2 was derived by extension. Noun sense 3 (‘a work of detective fiction’) is a semantic loan from Dutch detective and Russian детекти́в (detektív), both from English.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- ‘to cover’
tile, thug, sauna, thatch, staccato, toque, 29 more
through Latin tegō ‘cover, hide’
Today it means
noun A police officer tasked with collecting evidence and information in order to solve a crime; an investigator.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- / detective