English
predicament
Predicament comes from Late Latin praedicāmentum ‘that which is predicated, a predicament,…’, and goes back to Latin dicō ‘dedicate, assign to’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdicō‘dedicate, assign to’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraedicō‘to declare, proclaim, predicate’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEpraedicāmentum‘that which is predicated, a predicament, category’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400predicament
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500predicament
- Englishearliest quotation 1978predicament
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdicō‘dedicate, assign to’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraedicō‘to declare, proclaim, predicate’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEpraedicāmentum‘that which is predicated, a predicament, category’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400predicament
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500predicament
- Englishearliest quotation 1978predicament
Earliest quotation: 1978, Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism: “Culture, for me, is the effort to provide a…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂yew- ‘straight, upright, right’
yet, jurist, injurious, 23 more
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂yéwos
justify, injustice, justification, 22 more
through Proto-Italic *jowos ‘court of law’
through Latin iūs ‘law, right’
through Latin iūdex ‘judge’
through Latin iūdicō ‘to judge’
judge, judicial, judgment, judiciary, prejudice, judicious, adjudicate, judicature, 12 more
through Latin dicō ‘dedicate, assign to’
index, indicate, dictionary, indication, indicator, dedication, dictator, addict, dictate, ditto, contradictory, contradiction, contradict, dedicate, diction, ditty, dictum, interdict, dict, indicia, 24 more
through Latin praedicō ‘to declare, proclaim, predicate’
Today it means
noun A definite class, state or condition.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin dicō / predicament