English
equilibrium
Equilibrium comes from Latin aequilībrium ‘a level or horizontal position, equilibrium’, and goes back to lībra ‘balance’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElībra‘balance’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaequilībrium‘a level or horizontal position, equilibrium’
- Englishearliest quotation 1733equilibrium
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElībra‘balance’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEaequilībrium‘a level or horizontal position, equilibrium’
- Englishearliest quotation 1733equilibrium
Earliest quotation: 1733, Philip Miller, HYDROSTATICKS: “To Hydroſtaticks belong whatever relates to the Gravities and…”
Linked words
through Proto-Italic *līðrā ‘ingot’
through Latin lībra ‘balance’
level, deliberate, deliberation, lira, libra, deliberative, 8 more
Today it means
noun The condition of a system in which competing influences are balanced, resulting in no net change.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin lībra / equilibrium