English
intangible
Intangible comes from Medieval Latin intangibilis, from Late Latin tangibilis ‘touchable, tangible’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teh₂g-‘to touch’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tangō‘to touch’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtango‘to touch, grasp’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtangibilis‘touchable, tangible’
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500intangibilis
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600intangible
- Englishearliest quotation 1980intangible
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teh₂g-‘to touch’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tangō‘to touch’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtango‘to touch, grasp’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtangibilis‘touchable, tangible’
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500intangibilis
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600intangible
- Englishearliest quotation 1980intangible
Earliest quotation: 1980, Aaron Cohen, Save the Last Dance for Me: “Diaghilev's love for Nijinsky was as deep and as…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- ‘to touch’
taste, integrity, integrate, attain, taxis, taxonomy, talon, tama, contagion, contaminate, ataxia, tactician, talus, thwack, 29 more
through Proto-Italic *tangō ‘to touch’
through Latin tango ‘to touch, grasp’
contact, tame, contingent, contiguous, tact, tangent, 10 more
Today it means
adj Incapable of being perceived by the senses; incorporeal.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- / intangible