English
immense
Immense comes from Latin immensus ‘immeasurable, boundless, endless, vast, immense’, from mensus ‘measured’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meh₁-‘to measure’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mētisreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmētior‘to measure’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmensus‘measured’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEimmensus‘immeasurable, boundless, endless, vast, immense’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400immense
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500immens
- Englishearliest quotation 1847immense
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meh₁-‘to measure’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mētisreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmētior‘to measure’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmensus‘measured’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEimmensus‘immeasurable, boundless, endless, vast, immense’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400immense
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500immens
- Englishearliest quotation 1847immense
Earliest quotation: 1847, – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray: “The gallant young Indian dandies at home on furlough—immense…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ‘to measure’
month, moon, moral, meal, sunny, meter, moody, metric, metre, meta, menstrual, madder, asymmetry, metrology, mete, metis, firman, metra, moodiness, menses, 62 more
through Proto-Italic *mētis
through Latin mētior ‘to measure’
measure, dimensional, dimension, commensurate, commensal, 19 more
through Latin mensus ‘measured’
Today it means
adj Huge, gigantic, very large.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- / immense