English
valency
Valency comes from Latin valēns ‘strong, healthy’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂welh₁-reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂wl̥h₁éh₁yetireconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*walēō‘to be strong’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvaleō‘to be well, healthy, sound’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvalēns‘strong, healthy’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEvalentia
- Englishearliest quotation 2018valency
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂welh₁-reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂wl̥h₁éh₁yetireconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*walēō‘to be strong’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvaleō‘to be well, healthy, sound’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvalēns‘strong, healthy’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEvalentia
- Englishearliest quotation 2018valency
Earliest quotation: 2018, James Lambert, A Multitude of ‘Lishes’: The Nomenclature of Hybridity: “Some etymons appear to have greater valency than others…”
Formed from valence + -y
Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁-
…
Latin valeō ‘to be well, healthy, sound’
Latin valēns ‘strong, healthy’
Late Latin valentia ‘vigour’
German Valenz ‘valence, valency’
English valence
The story
Valentia is derived from valēns (‘healthy, strong, vigorous’) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns); while valēns is the present active participle of valeō (‘to be healthy, sound, or well; to be strong; to have influence or power, etc.’), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (‘to rule; powerful, strong’). Sense 1 (‘combining capacity of an atom’) and sense 3 (‘number of arguments a verb can have’) are possibly from valence + -y.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁-
wild, wool, velvet, validation, wield, fluff, flannel, validate, valiant, cuckold, velour, lanolin, woll, valorous, 36 more
through Proto-Italic *walēō ‘to be strong’
value, invalid, validity, 13 more
through Latin valeō ‘to be well, healthy, sound’
valid, equivalent, valuation, avail, vail, valour, ambivalent, convalescent, convalescence, 15 more
through Late Latin valentia
Today it means
noun The capacity of something to combine with other things, as for example the capability of a vaccine as measured by the number of pathogen serotypes that it can counteract.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- / valency