English
final
Final comes from Old French final ‘final, definitive, last’, from Latin fīnālis ‘of or relating to the end or to boundaries’, and ultimately from fīnis.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīnis‘end’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīnālis‘of or relating to the end or to boundaries’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400final‘final’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation 1671same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīnis‘end’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīnālis‘of or relating to the end or to boundaries’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400final‘final’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
- Englishearliest quotation 1671same form
Earliest quotation: 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes, […]: “Yet despair not of his final pardon.”
The story
Replaced native English endly (‘final’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- ‘to stick, set up’
fix, dig, ditch, dyke, dike, crucify, 20 more
through Latin *fignis
finesse, confine, infinitesimal, 11 more
through Latin fīnis ‘end’
fine, finish, definition, infinite, infinity, finite, fin, financier, infinitive, finis, fino, 16 more
through Old French final ‘final, definitive, last’
Today it means
noun A final examination; a test or examination given at the end of a term or class; the test that concludes a class.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin fīnis / final