English
discern
Discern comes from Latin discernere ‘to separate, divide, distinguish, discern’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *krey- ‘to sieve’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krey-‘to sieve’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*krinō‘to distinguish, discern’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcernōas cernere‘to distinguish’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiscernere‘to separate, divide, distinguish, discern’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400discerner
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500discernen
- Englishearliest quotation 1651discern
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krey-‘to sieve’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*krinō‘to distinguish, discern’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcernōas cernere‘to distinguish’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiscernere‘to separate, divide, distinguish, discern’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400discerner
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500discernen
- Englishearliest quotation 1651discern
Earliest quotation: 1651, Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan: “The severity of judgement, they say, makes men censorious…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *krey- ‘to sieve’
secret, crime, certain, criminal, crisis, critic, critique, riddle, hypocrite, criterion, endocrine, discreet, incriminate, rime, incrimination, excrete, recrimination, ridder, criterium, certitude, 45 more
through Latin cernō ‘to distinguish’
secretary, discrimination, discretion, secretion, discriminate, discrete, excrement, secrete, excretion, 8 more
Today it means
verb To detect with the senses, especially with the eyes.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *krey- / discern