Etymograph

English

fragrant

Fragrant comes from Latin frāgrāns ‘Emitting a smell, smelling’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰreh₁g-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreh₁g-‘to smell’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrāgrō‘to smell’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrāgrāns‘Emitting a smell, smelling’present active participle of frāgrō
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1995fragrant

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreh₁g-‘to smell’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrāgrō‘to smell’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfrāgrāns‘Emitting a smell, smelling’present active participle of frāgrō
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1995fragrant

Earliest quotation: 1995, Christopher Hitchens, Letter to the London Review of Books: “party-political interventions made by the fragrant Ms Stella Rimington.”

Linked words

through Latin frāgrāns ‘Emitting a smell, smelling’

flagrant, 1 more

Today it means

adj Sweet-smelling; having a pleasant (usually strong) scent or fragrance.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰreh₁g- / fragrant

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