English
fetid
Fetid comes from Latin fētidus ‘having offensive odour’, and goes back to fēteō ‘to have a bad smell, stink’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfēteō‘to have a bad smell, stink’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfētidus‘having offensive odour’
- Englishearliest quotation 1878fetid
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfēteō‘to have a bad smell, stink’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfētidus‘having offensive odour’
- Englishearliest quotation 1878fetid
Earliest quotation: 1878, Henry James, Honoré de Balzac: “[…] this room, where misfortune seems to ooze, where…”
The story
Borrowed from Latin fētidus (‘having offensive odour’), originally fēteō (‘to stink’).
Every English word from Latin fēteō
Today it means
adj Foul-smelling, stinking.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin fēteō / fetid