Etymograph

English

escheat

Escheat comes from Anglo-Norman eschete, from Late Latin *excadēre ‘fall away, fall out’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱád-e-ti.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱád-e-tireconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kadō‘to fall, sink’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadō‘fall’
  4. Late Latinmodern*excadēre‘fall away, fall out’reconstructed
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400eschete
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500escheat‘the reversion or conversion of property to the government’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱád-e-tireconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kadō‘to fall, sink’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadō‘fall’
  4. Late Latinmodern*excadēre‘fall away, fall out’reconstructed
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400eschete
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500escheat‘the reversion or conversion of property to the government’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590same form

Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto VIII: “Approching, with bold words and bitter threat, / Bad…”

Linked words

through Latin cadō ‘fall’

case, chance, accident, incident, occasion, decay, incidence, casualty, coincide, cadence, decadent, deciduous, occidental, cadaver, recidivism, occident, 15 more

Today it means

noun The return, conversion, or vesting of property of a deceased person or closed business to the government (originally to a feudal lord) where there are no legal heirs or claimants. It is known as bona vacantia in the United Kingdom.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱád-e-ti / escheat

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