Etymograph

English

incertain

Incertain comes from Middle French incertain.

  1. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600incertain
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500incertayne
  3. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604incertain

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600incertain
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500incertayne
  3. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604incertain

Earliest quotation: c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure: “...or to be worse then worst Of those, that…”

Equivalent to in- + certain

Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’

Proto-Germanic *in ‘into’

English in-

Proto-Indo-European *krey- ‘to sift, separate’

…

Latin certus ‘fixed, resolved, certain’

Vulgar Latin *certānus

Old French certain ‘certain’

Middle English certeyn ‘specified, fixed’

English certain

The story

From Middle English incertayne, borrowed from Middle French incertain, derived in the 14th c. from certain, after Latin incertus (‘uncertain’).

Every English word from Middle French incertain

Today it means

adj Not certain, uncertain.

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

Etymograph / Middle French incertain / incertain

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