Etymograph

English

incarceration

Incarceration comes from Medieval Latin incarcerātiō ‘incarceration, imprisonment’, from Latin carcer ‘prison’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut off, sever’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ker-‘to cut off, sever’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcarcer‘prison’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEincarcerō‘to incarcerate’
  4. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500incarcerātiō‘incarceration, imprisonment’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2020incarceration

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ker-‘to cut off, sever’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcarcer‘prison’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEincarcerō‘to incarcerate’
  4. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500incarcerātiō‘incarceration, imprisonment’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2020incarceration

Earliest quotation: 2020, Isolation: “Perpetrated over time, better walk the narrow line /…”

Formed from incarcerate + -ion

Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut off, sever’

Latin carcer ‘prison’

Medieval Latin incarcerō ‘to imprison’

Medieval Latin incarcerātus ‘incarcerated’

English incarcerate

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut off, sever’

short, across, share, cross, screen, score, card, shirt, circle, cancer, circuit, crucial, curve, skirt, circus, curb, scare, crest, carnival, shrine, scrutiny, scar, circulation, shred, corona, circa, shear, corolla, scorn, scorpion, shrewd, crux, raffle, carnage, cancellation, cirque, circulate, crepe, shard, corgi, 119 more

Today it means

noun The act of confining, or the state of being confined; imprisonment.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- / incarceration

Shirt and support for this word