Etymograph

English

inchoative

Inchoative comes from Latin incohātīvus, from incohō ‘to begin’, and ultimately from cohum ‘thong, strap’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcohum‘thong, strap’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEincohō‘to begin’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEincohātīvus
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinchoātīvus
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1648inchoative

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcohum‘thong, strap’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEincohō‘to begin’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEincohātīvus
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinchoātīvus
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1648inchoative

Earliest quotation: 1648, Walter Montagu, Devout Essaies: “[T]he day-Star […] ſhall be riſen in our hearts;…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kagʰ- ‘to hold’

hedge, hatch, quay, 1 more

Today it means

adj Initial; as yet unformed; inchoate.

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

Etymograph / Latin cohum / inchoative

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