Etymograph

English

impregnate

Impregnate comes from Latin impraegnō ‘to impregnate’, from praegnās ‘with child, pregnant’, and ultimately from Proto-Italic *prai ‘before’.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*prai‘before’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*prai-‘pre-, before’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraegnās‘with child, pregnant’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEimpraegnō‘to impregnate’
  5. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500impraegnātusperfect passive participle of impraegnō
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1711–1714impregnate

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*prai‘before’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*prai-‘pre-, before’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraegnās‘with child, pregnant’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEimpraegnō‘to impregnate’
  5. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500impraegnātusperfect passive participle of impraegnō
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1711–1714impregnate

Earliest quotation: 1711–1714, Joseph Addison, The Spectator: “Were they, like Spanish Jennets, to impregnate by the…”

first attested first attested in 1540 (as stated in the etymology)

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- ‘before, in front’

for, first, premier, forbid, prairie, primer, parasol, parley, portobello, primacy, primate, 17 more

through Proto-Italic *prai ‘before’

pre, premonition, 8 more

through Proto-Italic *prai- ‘pre-, before’

prestigious, preface, prefix, precede, preeminent, prescient, 6 more

Today it means

verb To cause to become pregnant.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *prai / impregnate

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