English
utile
Utile comes from Middle French utile ‘useful’, from Latin ūtor ‘use’, and ultimately from Proto-Italic *oitōr.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*oitōr‘to use, employ’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūtor‘use’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEūtilis‘useful, serviceable, beneficial, profitable, advantageous’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400utele
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600utile‘useful’
- Englishearliest quotation 1969same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*oitōr‘to use, employ’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūtor‘use’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEūtilis‘useful, serviceable, beneficial, profitable, advantageous’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400utele
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600utile‘useful’
- Englishearliest quotation 1969same form
Earliest quotation: 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor: “technologists (the so-called Eggheads) all over the world were…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₃eyt- ‘to take along, fetch’
through Latin ūtor ‘use’
through Latin ūtilis ‘useful, serviceable, beneficial, profitable,…’
Today it means
adj Useful.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *oitōr / utile