English
superfluous
Superfluous comes from Latin superfluō ‘overflow’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuperfluō‘overflow’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuperfluus
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500superfluous
- Englishearliest quotation 1867same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuperfluō‘overflow’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuperfluus
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500superfluous
- Englishearliest quotation 1867same form
Earliest quotation: 1867, Fyodor Dostoyevsky: “Then I began to play in timid fashion, venturing…”
A compound of super ‘above, more than, over’ + fluō ‘flow’
Proto-Indo-European *upér ‘over’
Proto-Italic *super ‘above’
Latin super ‘above, more than, over’
Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- ‘to swell, blow’
Proto-Indo-European *bʰlewH- ‘to overflow’
Proto-Indo-European *bʰluH-yé-ti
Latin fluō ‘flow’
The story
Literally corresponds to overflow, which is from Germanic, rather than Latin.
Every English word from Latin superfluō
Today it means
adj In excess of what is required or sufficient.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin superfluō / superfluous