Etymograph

English

indivisible

Indivisible comes from Late Latin indivisibilis.

  1. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEindivisibilis
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600indivisible
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1644same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEindivisibilis
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600indivisible
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1644same form

Earliest quotation: 1644, Kenelme [i.e., Kenelm] Digby: “By atom, nobody will imagine we intend to express…”

Formed from in- + divisible

Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’

Proto-Germanic *in ‘into’

English in-

Proto-Indo-European *h₁weydʰh₁- ‘to divide’

…

Latin *vidō ‘to separate’

Latin divido ‘to divide, separate’

Late Latin divisibilis

Middle English divisible

English divisible

Every English word from Late Latin indivisibilis

Today it means

adj Incapable of being divided; atomic.

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

Etymograph / Late Latin indivisibilis / indivisible

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