English
inutility
Inutility comes from Latin inutilitas ‘uselessness, unprofitableness’, from ūtilis ‘useful, serviceable, beneficial, profitable,…’, and ultimately from Proto-Italic *oitōr ‘to use, employ’.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*oitōr‘to use, employ’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūtor‘use’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEūtilis‘useful, serviceable, beneficial, profitable, advantageous’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinūtilis‘useless, unserviceable, unprofitable’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinutilitas‘uselessness, unprofitableness’
- Englishearliest quotation 1841inutility
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*oitōr‘to use, employ’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūtor‘use’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEūtilis‘useful, serviceable, beneficial, profitable, advantageous’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinūtilis‘useless, unserviceable, unprofitable’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinutilitas‘uselessness, unprofitableness’
- Englishearliest quotation 1841inutility
Earliest quotation: 1841, A Slight Sketch of the Life of Whitlock : “But I will hope better things for young Robert's…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₃eyt- ‘to take along, fetch’
through Latin ūtor ‘use’
through Latin ūtilis ‘useful, serviceable, beneficial, profitable,…’
Today it means
noun Uselessness.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *oitōr / inutility