English
various
Various comes from Middle French varieux, from Latin varius ‘manifold, diverse’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvarius‘manifold’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600varieux
- Englishearliest quotation 1904–1905various
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvarius‘manifold’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600varieux
- Englishearliest quotation 1904–1905various
Earliest quotation: 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., The Affair at the Novelty Theatre: “For this scene, a large number of supers are…”
Equivalent to vary + -ous
Latin varius ‘different, various’
Latin variō ‘to change, alter, make different’
Old French varier
Middle English varien
English vary
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- ‘to be/become empty’
want, waste, vast, vacation, void, vacant, vanity, vain, evacuate, vanish, waning, vacate, wane, evanescent, vacuous, 26 more
through Latin varius ‘manifold, diverse, various, parti-colored,…’
variety, vary, variable, variation, variant, varicella, 9 more
Today it means
det More than one (of an indeterminate set of things).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin varius / various