English
mobile
Mobile comes from Latin mōbilis ‘easy to be moved, moveable’, from moveō ‘move’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *m(y)ewh₁-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*m(y)ewh₁-‘to move’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*m(y)owh₁éyetireconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*moweō‘to move’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmoveō‘move’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmōbilis‘easy to be moved’
- Englishearliest quotation 1837mobile
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*m(y)ewh₁-‘to move’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*m(y)owh₁éyetireconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*moweō‘to move’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmoveō‘move’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmōbilis‘easy to be moved’
- Englishearliest quotation 1837mobile
Earliest quotation: 1837, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Another London Life: “His finely cut features were capable of every variety…”
The story
The video-gaming sense was coined by Richard Bartle to describe NPCs or creatures capable of moving "under their own power" in the 1978 video game Multi-User Dungeon. Bartle retracted an earlier claim of his that it was from the kinetic sculpture sense of mobile (for the "unpredictable but limited" motion of the hanging ornaments).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *m(y)ewh₁- ‘to move’
through Proto-Indo-European *m(y)owh₁éyeti
through Proto-Italic *moweō ‘to move’
move, momentum, automotive, promoter, emotionless, 92 more
through Latin moveō ‘move’
auto, emotional, remove, promote, motor, promotion, remote, emotion, motive, motivate, motif, removable, motility, emote, motile, 70 more
Today it means
adj Capable of being moved, especially on wheels.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *m(y)ewh₁- / mobile