Etymograph

English

sinister

Sinister comes from Middle English sinistre ‘unlucky’, from Old French senestre ‘left’, and ultimately from Proto-Italic *senisteros.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*senisterosreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsinister‘left hand’
  3. Late Latinmodernsinextrum
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400senestre‘left’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sinistre‘unlucky’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602sinister

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*senisterosreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsinister‘left hand’
  3. Late Latinmodernsinextrum
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400senestre‘left’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sinistre‘unlucky’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602sinister

Earliest quotation: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “my Mothers bloud / Runs on the dexter checke,…”

Every English word from Proto-Italic *senisteros

Today it means

adj Inauspicious, ominous, unlucky, illegitimate.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *senisteros / sinister

Shirt and support for this word