Etymograph

English

menace

Menace comes from Old French manace, from Late Latin minācia ‘threat, menace’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *men- ‘to think, mind’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*men-‘to think, mind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*menāreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*(eks)menāreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEminae‘threats’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEminor‘to jut forth’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmināx‘threatening’
  7. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEminācia‘threat, menace’
  8. Old Frenchc. 842–1400manace
  9. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500manace‘a perceived threat or danger’
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1697menace

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*men-‘to think, mind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*menāreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*(eks)menāreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEminae‘threats’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEminor‘to jut forth’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmināx‘threatening’
  7. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEminācia‘threat, menace’
  8. Old Frenchc. 842–1400manace
  9. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500manace‘a perceived threat or danger’
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1697menace

Earliest quotation: 1697, Virgil, The Ninth Book of the Æneis: “the dark menace of the distant war.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *men- ‘to think, mind’

money, music, mind, amount, mouth, remain, mountain, museum, monster, auto, mount, comment, min, permanent, monitor, mental, mention, monetary, demonstration, monk, mint, maya, monte, amnesty, muse, mosaic, summon, ming, mas, mandarin, mantra, monument, imminent, monastery, mont, mentor, mania, muster, monstrous, dementia, 126 more

through Latin minor ‘to jut forth’

minister, minor, demean, amenable, 8 more

Another origin of menace

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*men-‘to think, mind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*menāreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italic, derivedc. 1500–700 BCE*(eks)menāreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEminae‘threats’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEminor‘to jut forth’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmināx‘projecting’
  7. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEminācia‘threat’
  8. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*mināciārereconstructed
  9. Old Frenchc. 842–1400menacer
  10. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500manacen
  11. Englishtodaymenace

First attested in 1303: from Middle English manacen, from Old French menacer, manecier, manechier and Anglo-Norman manasser, from the assumed Vulgar Latin *mināciāre, from Latin minācia, whence the noun.

Today it means

noun A perceived threat or danger.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *men- / menace

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