Etymograph

English

potency

Potency comes from Latin potēns ‘able, powerful’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpotēns‘able, powerful’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpotentia
  3. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604potency

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpotēns‘able, powerful’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpotentia
  3. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604potency

Earliest quotation: c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure: “I would to heauen I had your potencie, And…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pótis ‘master, ruler’

possess, 6 more

through Proto-Italic *potis ‘master, in control of’

impossible, possibility, 5 more

through Latin potēns ‘able, powerful’

impotent, impotence, 6 more

Today it means

noun Power, authority.

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

Etymograph / Latin potēns / potency

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