English
hesitantly
Hesitantly comes from Latin haesitāns ‘hesitating, uncertain’, and goes back to haereō ‘to stick, stick fast’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhaereō‘to stick, stick fast’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEhaesitō‘to hesitate’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEhaesitāns‘hesitating, uncertain’
- English1500–presenthesitant
- Englishearliest quotation 1988hesitantly
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhaereō‘to stick, stick fast’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEhaesitō‘to hesitate’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEhaesitāns‘hesitating, uncertain’
- English1500–presenthesitant
- Englishearliest quotation 1988hesitantly
Earliest quotation: 1988, Михаи́л Алекса́ндрович Шо́лохов, Quiet flows the Don (translated): “Grigory hesitantly took her in his arms to kiss…”
A compound of hesitant + -ly
Latin haereō ‘to stick, stick fast’
Latin haesitō ‘to hesitate’
Latin haesitāns ‘hesitating, uncertain’
English hesitant
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʰays- ‘to adhere, to stick, to be fixed’
through Latin haereō ‘to stick, stick fast’
adhere, coherent, coherence, adhesive, cohesion, adhesion, coherency, 25 more
through Latin haesitō ‘to hesitate’
Today it means
adv With hesitation.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin haereō / hesitantly