Etymograph

English

inquiline

Inquiline comes from Latin inquilīnus ‘tenant, lodger’, and goes back to Proto-Italic *enkʷelō.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*enkʷelōreconstructed
  2. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*enkʷilīnosreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinquilīnus‘tenant, lodger’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1998inquiline

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*enkʷelōreconstructed
  2. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*enkʷilīnosreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinquilīnus‘tenant, lodger’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1998inquiline

Earliest quotation: 1998, Stephen B. Heard, Capture rates of invertebrate prey by the pitcher plant, Sar: “Captured prey also constitute the resource base for a…”

Today it means

noun An animal that lives commensally in the nest, burrow, gall, or dwelling place of an animal of another species.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *enkʷelō / inquiline