Etymograph

English

volition

Volition comes from Medieval Latin volitiō, from Latin volō ‘to wish’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- ‘to choose’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*welh₁-‘to choose’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*welō‘to want, will’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvolō‘to wish’
  4. Medieval Latinmodernvolitiō
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentvolition
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1655same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*welh₁-‘to choose’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*welō‘to want, will’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvolō‘to wish’
  4. Medieval Latinmodernvolitiō
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentvolition
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1655same form

Earliest quotation: 1655, Richard Baxter, An Addition to the 11th Chapter of the 3d Part of the Saints: “[…] And as the Understanding doth at once apprehend…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- ‘to choose’

will, well, volunteer, benevolent, wale, malevolent, voluptuous, 11 more

through Latin volō ‘to wish’

voluntary, volatile, malevolence, 10 more

Today it means

noun A conscious choice or decision.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *welh₁- / volition

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