English
profundity
Profundity comes from Middle English profundite.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500profundite
- Englishearliest quotation 1816profundity
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500profundite
- Englishearliest quotation 1816profundity
Earliest quotation: 1816, Walter Scott, Hurst: “[A] sharp-looking old dame, […] inhabited a "laigh [low]…”
Equivalent to profound + ity
Latin profundus ‘deep, profound’
Old French profont ‘deep (of a liquid)’
Anglo-Norman profound
Middle English profound
English profound
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- ‘to sink in’
deep, depth, dumb, dave, deaf, dip, dove, dub, bottomless, typhus, doof, 19 more
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn ‘bottom’
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰnós
through Proto-Italic *fundos
fundamental, fonds, fundus, 8 more
through Latin fundus ‘bottom’
foundation, fund, founder, honda, fond, 11 more
through Latin profundus ‘deep, profound’
Today it means
noun The state of being profound; magnitude, gravity, or intensity.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English profundite / profundity