Etymograph

English

obliterate

Obliterate comes from Latin obliterātus ‘having been blotted out, effaced, erased’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ- ‘to move lightly, effortlessly’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁lengʷʰ-‘to move lightly, effortlessly’next step skipped: Latin obliterō
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEobliterātus‘having been blotted out, effaced, erased’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1605obliterate

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁lengʷʰ-‘to move lightly, effortlessly’next step skipped: Latin obliterō
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEobliterātus‘having been blotted out, effaced, erased’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1605obliterate

Earliest quotation: 1605, Francis Bacon, The First Booke: “[H]e [Pope Gregory I] deſigned to obliterate and extinguiſh…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ- ‘to move lightly, effortlessly’

leave, light, relevant, lung, lever, alleviate, levant, allege, levee, leger, levitation, 13 more

Today it means

verb To destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace; to annihilate, to wipe out.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ- / obliterate

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