Etymograph

English

innate

Innate comes from Middle English innat(e) ‘innate, inborn’, from Latin innāscor ‘grow’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to produce’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵenh₁-‘to produce’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵn̥h₁-sḱé-tireconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gnāskōr‘to be born’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnāscor‘to be born’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinnāscor‘grow’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinnātus‘inborn, innate’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500innat(e)‘innate, inborn’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1601innate

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵenh₁-‘to produce’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵn̥h₁-sḱé-tireconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gnāskōr‘to be born’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnāscor‘to be born’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinnāscor‘grow’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinnātus‘inborn, innate’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500innat(e)‘innate, inborn’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1601innate

Earliest quotation: 1601, John Marston, Antonio’s Revenge: “I never ſaw a foole leane : the chub-fac’d…”

first attested first attested in the 1420s (as stated in the etymology)

The story

The adjective is first attested in the 1420s, the verb in 1602; from Middle English innat(e) (‘innate, inborn’), borrowed from Latin innātus (‘inborn, innate’) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), perfect active participle of innāscor (‘to be born in, grow up in’), from in- (‘in, at on’) + nāscor (‘to be born’); see natal, native.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to produce’

general, kind, german, king, generation, engine, gender, nation, gene, genius, oxygen, ken, genre, gentle, genuine, indigenous, hydrogen, genocide, genus, noel, naive, genital, kin, germ, ingenious, gentile, gens, nada, naïve, puny, nativity, glycogen, genial, genitive, jaunty, janata, genteel, gingerly, azadi, nomen, 108 more

through Latin nāscor ‘to be born’

nature, pregnant, native, nee, natal, nascent, renate, 10 more

Today it means

adj Inborn; existing or having existed since birth.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- / innate

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