English
finality
Finality comes from Middle French finalité.
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600finalité
- Englishearliest quotation 1949finality
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600finalité
- Englishearliest quotation 1949finality
Earliest quotation: 1949, and December, Notes and News: Festiniog and Welsh Highland Railways: “By way of contrast there is an air of…”
Formed from final + -ity
Latin fīnis ‘end’
Latin fīnālis ‘of or relating to the end or to boundaries’
Old French final ‘final’
Middle English final
English final
Every English word from Middle French finalité
Today it means
noun The state of being final; the condition from which no further changes occur.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle French finalité / finality