English
detriment
Detriment comes from Latin detrimentum ‘loss, damage, literally a rubbing off’, from terō ‘to rub’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-‘to rub, rub by twisting, twist, turn’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEterōas terere‘to rub’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēterere‘to rub off, wear’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdetrimentum‘loss, damage, literally a rubbing off’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400detriement
- Englishearliest quotation 1660detriment
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-‘to rub, rub by twisting, twist, turn’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEterōas terere‘to rub’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēterere‘to rub off, wear’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdetrimentum‘loss, damage, literally a rubbing off’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400detriement
- Englishearliest quotation 1660detriment
Earliest quotation: 1660, Henry More, An Explanation of the grand Mystery of Godliness: “Saturn, Jupiter and Mars from their conjunction to their…”
The story
Detriment is related to the word detritus, and built on similar foundations to the word impediment.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- ‘to rub, rub by twisting, twist, turn’
turn, throw, thread, tournament, threshold, tragic, trout, tyrone, thrash, tourney, detour, termite, triage, tourniquet, thresher, tyro, thresh, truant, contrite, derma, 42 more
through Latin terō ‘to rub’
Today it means
noun Harm, hurt, damage.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- / detriment