English
festival
Festival comes from Old French festival ‘festive’, from Late Latin fēstīvālis, from Latin fēstīvus ‘festive’, from fēstus ‘of feasts’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₁stosreconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fēstosreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfēstus‘of or pertaining to feasts; festive’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfēstīvus‘festive, merry’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEfēstīvālis‘of a festival’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400festival‘festive’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation 1590same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₁stosreconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fēstosreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfēstus‘of or pertaining to feasts; festive’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfēstīvus‘festive, merry’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEfēstīvālis‘of a festival’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400festival‘festive’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation 1590same form
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto III: “the temple of the Gods […] / Whom all…”
Equivalent to festive + -al
Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁stos
…
Latin fēstus ‘of or pertaining to feasts’
Latin īvus
Latin festivus ‘pertaining to a feast, gay, lively, joyous’
French festif
English festive
Linked words
through Latin fēstus ‘of or pertaining to feasts’
through Latin īvus
Today it means
adj Pertaining to a feast or feast day; festive. (Now only as the noun used attributively.)
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁stos / festival