English
enormous
Enormous comes from Latin ēnormis ‘enormous, immense’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēnormis‘enormous, immense’
- Englishearliest quotation 1603enormous
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēnormis‘enormous, immense’
- Englishearliest quotation 1603enormous
Earliest quotation: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “how apt wee are to receive all impressions, and…”
The story
An assimilated form of ex- (‘out of’) + norma (‘rule, norm’) + -ous.
Every English word from Latin ēnormis
Today it means
adj Deviating from the norm; unusual, extraordinary.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin ēnormis / enormous