Etymograph

English

idempotent

Idempotent comes from Latin; the Latin form is not named.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEform not named
  2. Englishtodayidempotent

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEform not named
  2. Englishtodayidempotent

A compound of idem ‘same’ + potent ‘having power’

Proto-Italic *izdim

Latin idem ‘the same’

Middle English idem

English idem

Proto-Indo-European *pótis ‘owner, master, host, husband’

…

Latin potis ‘able, powerful, originally a lord, master’

Latin posse ‘to be able’

Latin potens ‘powerful, strong, potent’

Middle English potent ‘staff, crutch’

English potent

The story

Coined in 1870 by American mathematician Benjamin Peirce in the context of algebra, later generalized to computer science.

Today it means

adj (said of a function) Such that, when performed multiple times on the same subject, it has no further effect on its subject after the first time it is performed.

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

Etymograph / idempotent

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