Etymograph

English

note

Note comes from Old English not ‘note, mark, sign’, and goes back to Latin nota.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnota‘mark’
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150not‘note’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500note
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnota‘mark’
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150not‘note’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500note
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588same form

Earliest quotation: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “Note the preſumption of this Scythian ſlaue: I tel…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- ‘to recognise’

can, could, know, normal, recognition, narrative, glory, con, ken, ignore, keen, ignorant, norm, cunning, narration, prognosis, canny, connoisseur, uncouth, canna, kith, recognizance, cun, gnosis, 84 more

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥h₃sḱéti ‘to recognise’

diagnostic, gnome, agnostic, 40 more

through Latin gnōscō

recognize, cognitive, quaint, incognito, precognition, noblesse, ignoble, 30 more

through Latin nōscō ‘to know’

notice, noble, notion, notorious, cognition, nobility, notoriety, acquaint, annotation, cognizance, 23 more

through Latin nota ‘mark, sign, remark, note’

notation, notary, annotate, 11 more

through Middle English note

nut, 1 more

Another origin of note

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*newd-‘to acquire, make use of’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*nutō‘enjoyment, utilisation’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*notureconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150notu‘use, enjoyment, advantage, profit, utility’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500note‘use, usefulness, profit’
  6. Englishtodaysame form

Related also to Old English notian (‘to enjoy, make use of, employ’), Old English nēotan (‘to use, enjoy’), Old High German niozan (‘to use, enjoy’) (Modern German genießen (‘to enjoy’)), Modern German benutzen (‘to use’).

Today it means

noun A mark or token by which a thing may be known; a visible sign; a character; a distinctive mark or feature; a characteristic quality.

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

Etymograph / Latin nota / note

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