Etymograph

English

lethal

Lethal comes from Latin lētālis ‘deadly, mortal, fatal’, and goes back to lētum ‘death’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElētum‘death’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElētālis‘deadly, mortal, fatal’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 2013lethal

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElētum‘death’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElētālis‘deadly, mortal, fatal’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 2013lethal

Earliest quotation: 2013, Old soldiers?: “Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike…”

The story

Learned borrowing from Latin lētālis (‘deadly, mortal, fatal’), improperly written lēthālis, from lētum (‘death’), improperly written as lēthum, from a supposed connection with Ancient Greek λήθη (lḗthē, “oblivion, forgetfulness”).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ley- ‘to flow’

liver, lin, littoral, 1 more

Today it means

adj Of, pertaining to, or causing death; deadly; mortal; fatal.

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

Etymograph / Latin lētum / lethal

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