English
occupy
Occupy comes from Latin occupāre ‘to take possession of, seize, occupy, take up,…’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoccupāre‘to take possession of, seize, occupy, take up, employ’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400occuper
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500occupien
- Englishearliest quotation 1551occupy
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoccupāre‘to take possession of, seize, occupy, take up, employ’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400occuper
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500occupien
- Englishearliest quotation 1551occupy
Earliest quotation: 1551, Ralph Robinson, Sir Thomas More's Utopia (in Latin): “not able to occupy their old crafts”.
A compound of ob ‘to, on’ + capiō ‘to take’
Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi
Proto-Italic *op ‘towards’
Latin ob ‘to, on’
Proto-Indo-European *kap-
Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti ‘to be grasping’
Proto-Italic *kapjō ‘to take, seize’
Archaic Latin kapiō
Latin capiō ‘to take’
Every English word from Latin occupāre
Today it means
verb To fill.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin occupāre / occupy