English
edify
Edify comes from Old French edifier ‘to build, to edify’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydʰ- ‘to ignite’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eydʰ-‘to ignite’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éydʰ-sreconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*aiðesreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaedisas aedēs‘building’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaedificōas aedificare‘build’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400edifier‘to build, to edify’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590edify
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eydʰ-‘to ignite’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éydʰ-sreconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*aiðesreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaedisas aedēs‘building’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaedificōas aedificare‘build’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400edifier‘to build, to edify’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590edify
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto I: “That Castle was most goodly edifyde, / And plaste…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydʰ- ‘to ignite’
ethanol, ether, estuary, atrium, 18 more
through Latin aedificō ‘build’
Today it means
verb To build, construct.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydʰ- / edify