Etymograph

English

sanction

Sanction comes from Latin sānctiō ‘penalty, sanction’, from sanciō ‘to render, make or appoint as sacred or…’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₂k-‘to sanctify, to make a treaty’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sankiō‘to consecrate’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsanciō‘to render, make or appoint as sacred or inviolable by a religious act’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsānctiō‘penalty, sanction’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600sanction
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1837same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₂k-‘to sanctify, to make a treaty’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sankiō‘to consecrate’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsanciō‘to render, make or appoint as sacred or inviolable by a religious act’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsānctiō‘penalty, sanction’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600sanction
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1837same form

Earliest quotation: 1837, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, The Truth of Presentiments: “The idea that it was more comfortable in the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k- ‘to sanctify, to make a treaty’

sacrilege, consecration, sacramental, consecrate, 13 more

through Proto-Italic *sankiō ‘to consecrate’

santo, 6 more

through Latin sanciō ‘to render, make or appoint as sacred or…’

saint

Today it means

noun An approval, by an authority, generally one that makes something valid.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *seh₂k- / sanction

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