English
locale
Locale comes from Late Latin locālis ‘Belong to a place’, and goes back to Old Latin stlocus.
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEstlocus
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocus‘place’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CElocālis‘Belong to a place’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentlocal
- Englishearliest quotation 1837locale
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEstlocus
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocus‘place’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CElocālis‘Belong to a place’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentlocal
- Englishearliest quotation 1837locale
Earliest quotation: 1837, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Changes in London: “Small houses have sprung up as rapidly as the…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *stel- ‘to put, place, locate’
stole, install, stall, stool, apostle, stalk, stale, epistle, apostolate, stela, stell, stele, stolid, 27 more
through Old Latin stlocus
allowance, milieu, allocate, collocation, 11 more
through Latin locus ‘place’
allow, location, lieu, locate, locus, loco, locator, locative, 15 more
Today it means
noun The place where something happens.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old Latin stlocus / locale