Etymograph

English

inherit

Inherit comes from Old French enheriter ‘to inherit’, from Late Latin inhereditō ‘make heir’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- ‘to leave, abandon’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰeh₁-‘to leave, abandon’root as named
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhērēditō‘to be an heir’
  3. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEinhereditōas inhereditare‘make heir’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400enheriter‘to inherit’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500enheriten
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1591inherit

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰeh₁-‘to leave, abandon’root as named
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhērēditō‘to be an heir’
  3. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEinhereditōas inhereditare‘make heir’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400enheriter‘to inherit’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500enheriten
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1591inherit

Earliest quotation: c. 1590–1591, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona: “This, or else nothing, will inherit her”.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- ‘to leave, abandon’

go, gone, heir, heritage, hereditary, forego, heredity, 20 more

Today it means

verb To receive (property, a title, etc.), by legal succession or bequest, usually after the previous owner's death.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- / inherit

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