English
triennial
Triennial comes from Latin triennium ‘three-year period’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtriennium‘three-year period’
- Englishearliest quotation 1774-1781triennial
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtriennium‘three-year period’
- Englishearliest quotation 1774-1781triennial
Earliest quotation: 1774-1781, Thomas Warton: “They were constantly summoned to a triennial festival :…”
A compound of tres ‘three’ + annus ‘year’
Proto-Indo-European *tréyes ‘three’
Proto-Italic *trejes
Proto-Italic *trēs ‘three’
Latin tres ‘three’
Proto-Indo-European *h₂et- ‘to go’
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ét-no-
Proto-Italic *atnos ‘year’
Latin annus ‘year’
Every English word from Latin triennium
Today it means
adj Happening every three years.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin triennium / triennial