Etymograph

English

trilogy

Trilogy comes from Ancient Greek τριλογία, from λόγος ‘that which is said: word, sentence, speech,…’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to collect (words)’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leǵ-‘to collect (words)’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*lógosreconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEλόγος‘that which is said: word, sentence, speech, story, debate, utterance, argument’
  4. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEτριλογίαtrilogía
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrilogia
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2012trilogy

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leǵ-‘to collect (words)’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*lógosreconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEλόγος‘that which is said: word, sentence, speech, story, debate, utterance, argument’
  4. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEτριλογίαtrilogía
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrilogia
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2012trilogy

Earliest quotation: 2012, Scott Tobias, The Hunger Games: “That such a safe adaptation could come of The…”

Formed from tri- + -logy

Proto-Indo-European *tri- ‘three, threefold’

Proto-Italic *tri- ‘three, tri-’

English tri-

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to collect (words)’

election, collection, technology, lesson, select, elite, collect, eligible, elect, elegant, legion, negligence, catalogue, coil, negligible, negligent, leach, lexicon, diligent, lexical, cull, astrology, dialectic, legation, epilogue, alexia, cosmology, lignite, lexis, lignin, gynecologist, ineligibility, dialogic, 151 more

through Proto-Hellenic *lógos

archaeological, pathological, homologous, etymology, astrological, pathophysiology, psychopathology, neurophysiology, histopathology, bacteriological, 102 more

through Ancient Greek λόγος ‘that which is said: word, sentence, speech,…’

logic, apology, sociology, terminology, physiology, analogy, pathology, logos, monologue, prologue, archaeologist, pathologist, logistic, epistemology, eulogy, entomology, etiology, apologia, bacteriology, syllogism, bacteriologist, 111 more

Today it means

noun A set of three connected works—usually dramas, literary pieces, films, or musical compositions—all related by theme, characters, or setting.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- / trilogy

Shirt and support for this word