English
locative
Locative comes from Latin locātīvus ‘determining place, locating’, and goes back to Old Latin stlocus.
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEstlocus
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocus‘place’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElocāre
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElocātīvus‘determining place, locating’
- Englishearliest quotation 1979locative
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEstlocus
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElocus‘place’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElocāre
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElocātīvus‘determining place, locating’
- Englishearliest quotation 1979locative
Earliest quotation: 1979, Monty Python's Life of Brian:: “Brian: Ah. Ah, dative, sir! Ahh! No, not dative!…”
Equivalent to locate + -ive
Old Latin stlocus
Latin locus ‘place, location’
Latin locō ‘to place’
Latin locātus ‘put, placed, having been set’
English locate
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *stel- ‘to put, to place’
stole, install, stall, stool, apostle, stalk, stale, epistle, stele, stela, stell, apostolate, stolid, 28 more
through Old Latin stlocus
allowance, locality, milieu, locale, 12 more
through Latin locus ‘place’
allow, local, lieu, locus, loco, allocate, collocation, 16 more
Today it means
adj Indicating place, or the place where, or wherein.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old Latin stlocus / locative