Etymograph

English

infernal

Infernal comes from Medieval Latin infernalis ‘of the underworld’, from Proto-Italic *enðeros ‘low’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰér-o-s.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(H)n̥dʰér-o-sHreconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*enðeros‘low’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnferusas īnferum‘netherworld, underworld, hell’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnfernus
  5. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500infernalis‘of the underworld’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600infernal
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1674same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(H)n̥dʰér-o-sHreconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*enðeros‘low’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnferusas īnferum‘netherworld, underworld, hell’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnfernus
  5. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500infernalis‘of the underworld’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600infernal
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1674same form

Earliest quotation: 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost: “Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile Stird…”

Formed from inferno + -al

Latin infernus ‘of the lower regions’

Italian inferno ‘hell’

English inferno

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰér-o-s

Today it means

adj Of or relating to hell, or the world of the dead; hellish.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰér-o-s / infernal

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