English
palpitate
Palpitate comes from Latin palpitō ‘to move frequently and quickly, tremble,…’, and goes back to palpō ‘touch softly, stroke, pat’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpalpō‘touch softly, stroke, pat’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpalpitō‘to move frequently and quickly, tremble, throb, pulsate, palpitate’
- Englishearliest quotation 1749palpitate
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpalpō‘touch softly, stroke, pat’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpalpitō‘to move frequently and quickly, tremble, throb, pulsate, palpitate’
- Englishearliest quotation 1749palpitate
Earliest quotation: 1749, John Cleland, (Please specify the letter or volume): “I was now so bruised, so batter'd, so spent…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pel- ‘to drive, swing, shake’
film, felt, simple, simply, push, powder, complain, filter, fold, pulse, pillow, repeal, flaw, pollen, compulsive, expel, repel, propel, pelt, peloton, wallow, palate, pall, palatable, tuple, muffle, apoplexy, peplum, pulver, pollinate, pillion, interpolate, palatal, 63 more
through Ancient Greek πάλλω ‘swing, shake, shake loose’
through Latin palpō ‘touch softly, stroke, pat’
Today it means
verb To beat strongly or rapidly; said especially of the heart.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin palpō / palpitate