Etymograph

English

subtile

Subtile comes from Latin subtilis ‘fine, thin, slender, delicate’, from tēla ‘a web’, and ultimately from Proto-Italic *tekslā.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tekslāreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtēla‘a web’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsubtilis‘fine, thin, slender, delicate’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1611subtile

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tekslāreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtēla‘a web’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsubtilis‘fine, thin, slender, delicate’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1611subtile

Earliest quotation: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “For wisedome which is the worker of all things,…”

Linked words

through Latin tēla ‘a web’

subtlety, tiller, tela, toilette, 6 more

through Latin subtilis ‘fine, thin, slender, delicate’

subtle, subtly, 5 more

Today it means

adj —

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

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *tekslā / subtile

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