English
encumber
Encumber comes from Old French encombrer ‘to bother’, and goes back to Latin in ‘in, into’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEin‘in, into’next step skipped: Old French combre
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400encombrer‘to bother’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500encombren
- Englishearliest quotation 1906 – 1921encumber
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history not traced here.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEin‘in, into’next step skipped: Old French combre
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400encombrer‘to bother’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500encombren
- Englishearliest quotation 1906 – 1921encumber
Earliest quotation: 1906 – 1921, John Galsworthy, Encounter: “He [Timothy Forsyte] had never committed the imprudence of…”
Linked words
through Latin in ‘in, into’
intimate, encounter, ensemble, intestine, envelop, intimation, emplacement, agog, 4 more
Today it means
verb To load down something with a burden.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin in / encumber