English

pacify

Pacify comes from Middle French pacifier.

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

Earliest quotation: 1920, Cicero, London: G. Bell and Sons: “As to your frequent remarks in your letters about…”.

A compound of pāx ‘peace’ + faciō ‘to do, make’

Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- ‘to join, to attach’

Proto-Indo-European *péh₂ḱ-s ‘peace’

Proto-Italic *pāks ‘peace’

Latin pāx ‘peace’

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁k-

Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁kyéti

Proto-Italic *θakjō

Proto-Italic *fakjō ‘to make’

Latin faciō ‘to do, make’

Every English word from Middle French pacifier

verb To bring peace to (a place or situation), by ending (or suppressing) war, fighting, violence, anger or agitation.

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