English
elative
Elative comes from Latin ēlātus ‘exalted, lofty, high’, from efferō ‘bring or carry out, forth or away’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéreti‘to be carrying’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ferō‘to carry, bear’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEferō‘carry, bear’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEefferō‘bring or carry out, forth or away’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēlātus‘exalted, lofty, high’
- Englishearliest quotation 1595elative
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéreti‘to be carrying’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ferō‘to carry, bear’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEferō‘carry, bear’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEefferō‘bring or carry out, forth or away’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēlātus‘exalted, lofty, high’
- Englishearliest quotation 1595elative
Earliest quotation: 1595, Thomas Lodge: “And so the fleas, and flies in their degree,…”
Formed from -ive
The story
Possibly borrowed from German, which has produced a great deal of pioneering Semitist literature, and where Elativ is a common term for absolute superlative in all languages.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to bear, carry’
bar, birth, prefer, broad, bread, fortune, burden, bearing, barn, barrel, bore, fury, baron, breeze, bark, berth, broom, barrow, embargo, fret, ferret, insufferable, bier, bahar, proffer, birr, barrette, bairn, burnish, furtive, 114 more
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti ‘to be carrying’
bear, borne, phosphorus, euphoria, phosphate, dysphoria, semaphore, indifferently, phosphine, 92 more
through Proto-Italic *ferō ‘to carry, bear’
suffering, differently, indifferent, differentiation, infertility, deference, infertile, differentially, deferential, differentiable, differentiator, 69 more
through Latin ferō ‘carry, bear’
different, offer, difference, reference, transfer, suffer, extraordinary, differ, referendum, translation, referee, frustration, fertility, translate, relate, relation, strangely, fertile, extravagant, defer, confer, infer, infra, frustrate, extraneous, fertilization, strangeness, fertilize, ablation, estrange, collation, collate, dilate, oblate, ablative, 80 more
through Latin efferō ‘bring or carry out, forth or away’
through Latin ēlātus ‘exalted, lofty, high’
Another origin of elative
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéreti‘to be carrying’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ferō‘to carry, bear’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEferō‘carry, bear’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEefferō‘to carry out or away’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēlātus‘brought or carried out, forth or away, having been carried away’perfect past participle of efferō
- Englishtodayelative
Today it means
noun In Semitic languages, the “adjective degree of superiority”. In some languages such as Arabic, the concepts of comparative and superlative degree of an adjective are merged into a single form, the elative. How this form is understood or translated depends upon context and definiteness. In the absence of comparison, the elative conveys the notion of “greatest”, “supreme.”
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- / elative