English
limitation
Limitation comes from Latin limitatio ‘determination’, from līmitō ‘to limit, delimit, bound’, and ultimately from līmus ‘askew’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElīmus‘askew’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElīmes‘a limit set between two estates or fields, border, boundary’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElīmitō‘to limit, delimit, bound’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElimitatio‘determination’
- Englishearliest quotation 1962limitation
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElīmus‘askew’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElīmes‘a limit set between two estates or fields, border, boundary’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElīmitō‘to limit, delimit, bound’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElimitatio‘determination’
- Englishearliest quotation 1962limitation
Earliest quotation: 1962, The Oxted Line diesel-electric multiple-units: “The coaches are similar to those of the Hampshire…”
Formed from limit + -ation
Latin līmus ‘askew’
Latin līmes ‘a cross-path or balk between fields’
Old French limit
Middle English limit
English limit
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *Heh₃l- ‘to bow, to bend’
sublime, ell, subliminal, ulna, 8 more
through Latin līmes ‘a limit set between two estates or fields,…’
through Latin līmitō ‘to limit, delimit, bound’
Today it means
noun The act of limiting or the state of being limited.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin līmus / limitation