English
vibration
Vibration comes from Latin vibrātiō ‘a shaking or brandishing’, from vibrō ‘shake, vibrate’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyp- ‘to oscillate, swing’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyp-‘to oscillate, swing’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvibrō‘shake, vibrate’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvibrātiō‘a shaking or brandishing’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentvibration
- Englishearliest quotation 1834same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyp-‘to oscillate, swing’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvibrō‘shake, vibrate’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvibrātiō‘a shaking or brandishing’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentvibration
- Englishearliest quotation 1834same form
Earliest quotation: 1834, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, London: Richard Bentley: “The moon, which had been slowly ascending, now shone…”
Formed from vibrate + -ion
Proto-Indo-European *weyp- ‘to oscillate, swing’
Latin vibrō ‘to agitate, set in tremulous motion’
Latin vibrātus
Middle English vibrat(e) ‘reverberant’
English vibrate
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *weyp- ‘to oscillate, swing’
Today it means
noun The act of vibrating or the condition of being vibrated.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *weyp- / vibration