English
essential
Essential comes from Late Latin essentiālis, from Latin essentia ‘essence, being’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEessentia‘being’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEessentiālis
- Englishearliest quotation 1612–1613essential
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEessentia‘being’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEessentiālis
- Englishearliest quotation 1612–1613essential
Earliest quotation: 1612–1613, John Webster, The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy. […]: “Or is it true, that thou art but a…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to be, become, grow, appear’
be, been, build, physical, bond, bush, bound, booth, contribution, physician, probability, favorable, distribute, contributor, bun, favourable, fiat, bouquet, retribution, imp, attribution, rebuke, bower, aren, beamer, bosque, physic, phylum, phylogeny, approbation, boor, bist, futur, 73 more
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰúHt ‘to become’
power, possible, bondage, impossibility, impotent, busk, 10 more
through Archaic Latin 𐌄𐌔𐌏𐌌
through Old Latin esum
represent, presentation, absentee, absentia, 6 more
through Latin sum ‘to be, exist’
future, improve, proud, present, pride, presence, approve, absence, entity, absent, prowess, prude, prow, 13 more
Today it means
adj Necessary.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin essentia / essential