English
nation
Nation comes from Middle English nacioun, from Old French nacion, from Latin nātiō (accusative nātiōnem) ‘nation’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnātiō‘nation’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400nacion‘birth, nation’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500nacioun
- Englishearliest quotation 1611nation
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnātiō‘nation’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400nacion‘birth, nation’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500nacioun
- Englishearliest quotation 1611nation
Earliest quotation: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “All the ends of the woꝛld ſhall remember, and…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to produce’
general, king, german, engine, gender, nature, genuine, gene, pregnant, genius, oxygen, ken, genre, indigenous, kindness, hydrogen, native, genocide, genus, kin, noel, naive, genital, kinder, nee, germ, ingenious, innate, natal, nascent, nada, naïve, puny, glycogen, genial, gingerly, nativity, janata, genitive, azadi, 106 more
through Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁tis ‘birth, production’
kind, gentle, genesis, genetics, gens, gentile, genteel, jaunty, nomen, 14 more
Today it means
noun A historically constituted, stable community of people, formed based on a common language, territory, economic life, ethnicity and/or psychological make-up manifested in a common culture.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin nātiō / nation