Etymograph

English

inevitable

Inevitable comes from Latin inēvītābilis ‘unavoidable’, from ēvītābilis ‘avoidable’, and ultimately from vitō ‘to shun’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvitōas vītāre‘to shun’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvītāre‘to avoid’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvītābilis‘avoidable’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinēvītābilis‘unavoidable’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600inevitable
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1831same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvitōas vītāre‘to shun’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvītāre‘to avoid’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvītābilis‘avoidable’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinēvītābilis‘unavoidable’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600inevitable
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1831same form

Earliest quotation: 1831, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley: “I pass also the jealousies, the quarrels, the disgusts,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- ‘to chase, pursue’

previous, obvious, virtual, violent, violation, voyage, convey, virtue, vengeance, violate, trivial, envoy, trivia, avenge, vis, deviation, virtuous, venison, wer, virtuoso, deviant, ochre, vindication, viaduct, vim, violator, virile, virility, trivium, virago, obviate, inviolable, 54 more

Today it means

adj Impossible to avoid or prevent.

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

Etymograph / Latin vitō / inevitable

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