Etymograph

English

existentialism

Existentialism comes from French existentiel ‘existential’, from Latin sistō ‘to cause to stand’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*steh₂-‘to stand (up)’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*stísteh₂ti‘to be standing up, to be getting up’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sistō‘to stand’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsistō‘to cause to stand’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEexsistō‘to be, exist’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEexsistēns‘being, existing’
  7. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEexsistentiaas existentia‘existence’
  8. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEexsistentiālis‘existential’
  9. Frenchc. 1600–presentexistentiel‘existential’
  10. French, derivedc. 1600–presentexistentialisme
  11. Englishearliest quotation 1922existentialism

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*steh₂-‘to stand (up)’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*stísteh₂ti‘to be standing up, to be getting up’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sistō‘to stand’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsistō‘to cause to stand’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEexsistō‘to be, exist’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEexsistēns‘being, existing’
  7. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEexsistentiaas existentia‘existence’
  8. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEexsistentiālis‘existential’
  9. Frenchc. 1600–presentexistentiel‘existential’
  10. French, derivedc. 1600–presentexistentialisme
  11. Englishearliest quotation 1922existentialism

Earliest quotation: 1922, Edward Bradford Titchener, Functional Psychology and the Psychology of Act: II: “I sought to 'psychologise' [Franz] Brentano's act as being,…”

The story

From existential + -ism (suffix forming the names of schools of thought, systems, or theories), modelled after German Existentialismus. The word was popularized by the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) in his work L’existentialisme est un humanisme (Existentialism is a Humanism, 1946).

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-

Today it means

noun A 20th-century philosophical movement emphasizing the uniqueness of each human existence in freely making its self-defining choices; also (generally), a philosophy which emphasizes existence over essence.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- / existentialism

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