Etymograph

English

indictment

Indictment comes from Middle English endytement ‘action of accusing’, and goes back to Latin indictus.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEindictus
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEindictāre
  3. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400enditement
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500endytement‘action of accusing’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1910indictment

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history not traced here.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEindictus
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEindictāre
  3. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400enditement
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500endytement‘action of accusing’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1910indictment

Earliest quotation: 1910, Emma Goldman, Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty: “Can there be a greater indictment against patriotism than…”

The story

18th-century Latinized respelling of Middle English endytement (‘action of accusing’), from Anglo-Norman enditement, from enditer, from Late Latin indictāre, from Latin indictus.

Every English word from Latin indictus

Today it means

noun An official formal accusation for a criminal offence, or the process by which it is brought to a jury.

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

Etymograph / Latin indictus / indictment

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