English
fluctuate
Fluctuate comes from Latin flūctuō ‘(of the sea) to surge, swell’, from flūctus ‘wave’, and ultimately from fluō ‘to flow, stream, pour’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfluō‘to flow, stream, pour’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEflūctus‘wave’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEflūctuō‘(of the sea) to surge, swell’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEflūctuātusperfect passive participle of flūctuō
- Englishearliest quotation 1719fluctuate
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfluō‘to flow, stream, pour’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEflūctus‘wave’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEflūctuō‘(of the sea) to surge, swell’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEflūctuātusperfect passive participle of flūctuō
- Englishearliest quotation 1719fluctuate
Earliest quotation: 1719, William Vickers, An easie and safe method for curing the King's Evil: “One of them, at great Expence of Algebra, proves,…”
first attested First attested in 1630 (as stated in the etymology)
The story
First attested in 1630; borrowed from Latin flūctuātus, perfect passive participle of flūctuō (‘(of the sea) to surge, swell; (of man) to waver, fluctuate’), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰluH-yé-ti
through Latin fluō ‘to flow, stream, pour’
influence, fluid, influx, fluent, flux, confluence, fluency, affluence, flume, fluorine, fluvial, fluorite, fluor, 27 more
Today it means
verb To vary irregularly; to swing.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin fluō / fluctuate