English
secret
Secret (noun) comes from Middle English secret, from Latin sēcrētum.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēcrētum‘a secret’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500secret
- Englishearliest quotation 1667secret
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēcrētum‘a secret’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500secret
- Englishearliest quotation 1667secret
Earliest quotation: 1667, John Milton, Book X: “Thou knewſt by name, and all th' ethereal powers,…”
The story
The noun is from Middle English secret, from Latin sēcrētum.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *krey- ‘to sift, separate, divide’
certain, crime, criminal, crisis, discrimination, critic, critique, riddle, discretion, discriminate, criterion, discern, hypocrite, discrete, endocrine, discreet, rime, excrement, incriminate, incrimination, ridder, excretion, certitude, criterium, recrimination, excrete, 48 more
Another origin of secret
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krey-‘to sift, separate, divide’next step skipped: Latin sēcernō
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēcrētus‘separated, hidden’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400secret
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500secrette
- Englishtodaysecret
Today it means
noun A piece of knowledge that is hidden and intended to be kept hidden.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin sēcrētum / secret