Etymograph

English

nature

Nature comes from Old French nature, from Latin nātūra ‘birth, constitution’, from nātus ‘born’, participle of nāscor ‘to be born’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵenh₁-‘to produce, beget’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵn̥h₁-sḱé-tireconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gnāskōr‘to be born’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnāscor‘to be born’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEnātus‘born’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEnātūra‘birth, natural constitution’
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400nature
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500nature‘the universe, creation’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1592nature

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵenh₁-‘to produce, beget’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵn̥h₁-sḱé-tireconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gnāskōr‘to be born’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnāscor‘to be born’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEnātus‘born’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEnātūra‘birth, natural constitution’
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400nature
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500nature‘the universe, creation’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1592nature

Earliest quotation: 1592, William West, Symbolaeography: “Any such corrasiue, sharpe or eager medicine... as the…”

The story

Also displaced native Old English hād (‘nature, manner’).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- ‘to produce’

general, kind, king, german, engine, generation, gender, nation, genuine, gene, genius, oxygen, ken, gentle, indigenous, hydrogen, genocide, genre, genus, kin, noel, naive, genital, ingenious, germ, gentile, gens, nada, naïve, puny, nativity, glycogen, genial, genteel, gingerly, genitive, jaunty, janata, azadi, nomen, 108 more

through Latin nāscor ‘to be born, begotten’

native, pregnant, nee, innate, natal, nascent, renate, 10 more

Today it means

noun The way things are, the totality of all things in the physical universe and their order, especially the physical world in contrast to spiritual realms and flora and fauna as distinct from human conventions, art, and technology.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- / nature

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