English
equality
Equality comes from Latin aequalitas ‘equality, similarity, uniformity’, and goes back to Old Latin aiquos.
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEaiquos
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaequus‘equal’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaequālis‘equal, even, level’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaequalitasas aequālitās‘equality, similarity, uniformity’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600equalité
- Englishearliest quotation 1949equality
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEaiquos
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaequus‘equal’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaequālis‘equal, even, level’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaequalitasas aequālitās‘equality, similarity, uniformity’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600equalité
- Englishearliest quotation 1949equality
Earliest quotation: 1949, F. A. Hayek, The Intellectuals and Socialism: “The most powerful of these general ideas which have…”
Linked words
through Old Latin aiquos
through Latin aequus ‘equal’
equation, equity, equitable, equate, 15 more
through Latin aequalitas ‘equality, similarity, uniformity’
Today it means
noun The fact of being equal.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old Latin aiquos / equality