English
invention
Invention comes from Latin inventiō ‘invention, discovery’, and goes back to venīre ‘to come’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvenīre‘to come’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinvenīre‘to discover, find, invent’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinventiō‘invention, discovery’by way of Middle French invencion
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500invencion
- Englishearliest quotation 1668invention
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history not traced here.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvenīre‘to come’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinvenīre‘to discover, find, invent’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinventiō‘invention, discovery’by way of Middle French invencion
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500invencion
- Englishearliest quotation 1668invention
Earliest quotation: 1668, Roland Freart [i.e., Of Invention: “Invention, or the Genius of Hiſtoricizing and framing a…”
Equivalent to invent + -ion
Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- ‘to come, to step’
…
Latin inveniō ‘come upon, meet with, find, discover’
Latin inventus ‘discovered, having been discovered’
Old French inventer
Middle English inventen
English invent
Every English word from Latin venīre
Today it means
noun Something invented.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin venīre / invention