Etymograph

English

ruminate

Ruminate comes from Latin rūminātus ‘chewed the cud, having chewed the cud’, and goes back to rūminor.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErūminor‘to chew the cud, turn over in the mind’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErūminātus‘chewed the cud, having chewed the cud’perfect active participle of rūminor
  3. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597ruminate

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErūminor‘to chew the cud, turn over in the mind’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErūminātus‘chewed the cud, having chewed the cud’perfect active participle of rūminor
  3. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597ruminate

Earliest quotation: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]: “What I know / Is ruminated, plotted, and set…”

first attested First attested in 1533 (as stated in the etymology)

The story

First attested in 1533; borrowed from Latin rūminātus, perfect active participle of rūminor (‘to chew the cud, turn over in the mind’) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from rūmen (‘the throat, gullet’) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), itself of uncertain origin.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Every English word from Latin rūminor

Another origin of ruminate

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErūminor‘chew the cud’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CErūminātus‘chewed the cud, having chewed the cud’
  3. Englishtodayruminate

First attested in 1800, in the writings of John Hull; borrowed from Latin rūminātus, see Etymology 1 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Today it means

verb To chew cud. (Said of ruminants.) Involves regurgitating partially digested food from the rumen.

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

Etymograph / Latin rūminor / ruminate

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