English
evitable
Evitable comes from Latin ēvītābilis ‘avoidable’, and goes back to vītō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvītō‘to avoid, evade’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvītō‘to avoid’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvītābilis‘avoidable’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600evitable
- Englishearliest quotation 1798same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvītō‘to avoid, evade’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvītō‘to avoid’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvītābilis‘avoidable’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600evitable
- Englishearliest quotation 1798same form
Earliest quotation: 1798, Thomas Dicey, The Chapel of Nostre Dame des Pas, Guernsey: “A momentary ſhock like this, I ſay, may, for…”
The story
The former is derived from ē- (‘out’) + vītō (‘to avoid, evade; to shun’) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dwidʰeh₁- (‘separate, set apart’), a compound of *dwi- (‘two’) + *dʰeh₁- (‘to put’)).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- ‘to chase, pursue’
previous, obvious, virtual, violent, violation, voyage, convey, virtue, vengeance, violate, envoy, trivial, trivia, avenge, vis, deviation, virtuous, venison, wer, vindication, virtuoso, ochre, deviant, viaduct, vim, violator, virile, virility, trivium, virago, obviate, inviolable, 54 more
Today it means
adj Possible to avoid; avertible.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin vītō / evitable