Etymograph

English

inseparable

Inseparable comes from Latin īnsēparābilis, from sēparābilis ‘separable’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥h₃o-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pr̥h₃o-reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*paro-reconstructed
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEparō‘to arrange’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēparō‘to divide, separate’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēparābilis‘separable’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnsēparābilis
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600inséparable
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1874inseparable

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pr̥h₃o-reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*paro-reconstructed
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEparō‘to arrange’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēparō‘to divide, separate’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēparābilis‘separable’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnsēparābilis
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600inséparable
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1874inseparable

Earliest quotation: 1874, Thomas Hardy, Coming Home—A Cry: “People of unalterable ideas still insisted upon calling him…”

Formed from in- + separable

Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’

Proto-Germanic *in ‘into’

English in-

Proto-Indo-European *pr̥h₃o-

…

Latin sēparō ‘to divide, separate’

Latin sēparābilis

Middle French separable

Middle English separable

English separable

The story

Constructed as in- + separable.

Linked words

through Latin parō ‘to arrange’

empire, emperor, imperial, repair, preparation, empress, apparel, apparatus, parachute, preparatory, disparate, imperium, imperious, pare, rampart, imperator, reparation, 16 more

through Latin sēparō ‘to divide, separate’

several, separate, separation, severance, separator, 2 more

Today it means

adj Unable to be separated; bound together permanently.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pr̥h₃o- / inseparable

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