English
fecundity
Fecundity comes from Latin fēcunditās ‘fruitfulness, fertility’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- ‘to suckle, nurse’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₁(y)-‘to suckle, nurse’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfēcundus‘fertile or fruitful’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfēcunditās‘fruitfulness, fertility’
- Englishearliest quotation 1889fecundity
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₁(y)-‘to suckle, nurse’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfēcundus‘fertile or fruitful’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfēcunditās‘fruitfulness, fertility’
- Englishearliest quotation 1889fecundity
Earliest quotation: 1889, Rudyard Kipling, The Education of Otis Yeere: “The soil spawned humanity, as it bred frogs in…”
Formed from fecund + -ity
Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- ‘to suckle, nurse’
Latin fēcundus ‘fertile’
Middle French fécond
English fecund
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- ‘to suckle, nurse’
female, feminist, doe, feminism, fetus, tyre, dai, fawn, femme, felicity, femininity, filial, effeminate, fellatio, dahi, 30 more
Today it means
noun Ability to produce offspring.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- / fecundity