English
hesitatory
Hesitatory comes from Latin haesitātus ‘hesitated, having been 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 CEhaesitātus‘hesitated, having been uncertain’
- English1500–presenthesitate
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1734hesitatory
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 CEhaesitātus‘hesitated, having been uncertain’
- English1500–presenthesitate
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1734hesitatory
Earliest quotation: a. 1734, Roger North: “His being suspicious, dubious, cautelous, and not soon determined,…”
A compound of hesitate + -ory
Latin haereō ‘to stick, stick fast’
Latin haesitō ‘to hesitate’
Latin haesitātus ‘hesitated, having been uncertain’
English hesitate
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʰays- ‘to adhere, to stick, to be fixed’
through Latin haereō ‘to stick, stick fast’
coherent, adhere, coherence, adhesive, cohesion, adhesion, coherency, 25 more
through Latin haesitō ‘to hesitate’
Today it means
adj hesitating
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin haereō / hesitatory