English
register
Register comes from Medieval Latin registrum, from Late Latin regesta ‘list, items recorded’, from regerō ‘to record’, from re- + gerō ‘to carry’.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gesō‘to carry’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgerō‘to carry, bear’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEregerō‘to carry back; to record’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEregesta‘list, items recorded’
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500registrum‘a register’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1597register
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gesō‘to carry’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgerō‘to carry, bear’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEregerō‘to carry back; to record’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEregesta‘list, items recorded’
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500registrum‘a register’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1597register
Earliest quotation: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wiues of Windsor: “As you have one eye upon my follies, […]…”
The story
Some senses influenced by association with unrelated Latin regō (‘to rule’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-
act, action, active, agency, activity, actual, agent, actor, suggest, agenda, essay, strategy, acre, agony, activate, ambiguous, squat, ambiguity, assay, agrarian, agile, digestion, agility, agitation, antagonist, axiom, radium, actuator, cogent, antagonism, antagonize, digestible, agonist, actuation, glucagon, samaj, agitate, stratagem, inexact, exigent, 140 more
through Latin gerō ‘to carry, bear’
suggestion, gesture, digest, congestion, gestation, ingestion, belligerent, ingest, progesterone, agger, gestion, gerund, 14 more
Today it means
noun A formal recording of names, events, transactions, etc.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *gesō / register