English
penalty
Penalty comes from Middle French pénalité, from pénal, from Latin poenālis, from poena, borrowed from Ancient Greek ποινή ‘blood money’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷey-‘to pay’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷoynéh₂‘payment’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kʷoinā́reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEποινήpoinḗ‘blood money’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpoena‘penalty’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpoenālis‘penal’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600pénal
- Middle French, derivedc. 1400–1600pénalité
- Englishearliest quotation 1834penalty
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷey-‘to pay’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷoynéh₂‘payment’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kʷoinā́reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEποινήpoinḗ‘blood money’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpoena‘penalty’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpoenālis‘penal’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600pénal
- Middle French, derivedc. 1400–1600pénalité
- Englishearliest quotation 1834penalty
Earliest quotation: 1834, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, London: Richard Bentley: “But you, my noble, my generous girl!" exclaimed Lord…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- ‘to pay’
poetry, painful, poem, poet, titanium, painless, whey, onomatopoeia, 21 more
through Ancient Greek ποινή ‘fine, ransom, penalty, penance, satisfaction’
pain, punishment, pine, punish, punitive, impunity, subpoena, 5 more
Today it means
noun A legal sentence.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- / penalty