English
lateral
Lateral comes from Latin laterālis ‘belonging to the side’, and goes back to latus.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElatus‘the side or flank’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElaterālis‘belonging to the side’
- Englishearliest quotation 1956lateral
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElatus‘the side or flank’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElaterālis‘belonging to the side’
- Englishearliest quotation 1956lateral
Earliest quotation: 1956, United States House Appropriations Commi, Public Works Appropriations for 1957: “[…] Canal and laterals, section 4, and the first…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- ‘flat’
plane, flat, plate, plaza, platinum, piazza, plat, plantain, flan, plaice, 15 more
through Latin latus ‘the side or flank’
Today it means
adj Situated on one side or other of the body or of an organ, especially in the region furthest from the median plane.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin latus / lateral