Etymograph

English

ipsissimosity

Ipsissimosity comes from German Ipsissimosität ‘ipsissimosity, self-referentiality’, from Latin ipsissimus ‘very own’, and ultimately from Proto-Italic *e(s)peso ‘himself, herself, itself’.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*e(s)peso‘himself, herself, itself’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEipse‘itself, the same’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEipsissimusas ipsissima‘very own’
  4. Germanc. 1650–presentIpsissimosität‘ipsissimosity, self-referentiality’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1907ipsissimosity

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*e(s)peso‘himself, herself, itself’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEipse‘itself, the same’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEipsissimusas ipsissima‘very own’
  4. Germanc. 1650–presentIpsissimosität‘ipsissimosity, self-referentiality’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1907ipsissimosity

Earliest quotation: 1907, Helen Zimmern: “who has not been sick to death of everything…”

The story

From German Ipsissimosität, coined in 1886 by Friedrich Nietzsche from the Latin ipsissima (‘very own’).

Every English word from Proto-Italic *e(s)peso

Today it means

noun Self-referentiality.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *e(s)peso / ipsissimosity

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