Etymograph

English

vulnerable

Vulnerable comes from Late Latin vulnerābilis ‘injurious, wounding’, and goes back to Proto-Italic *welanos.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*welanosreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvulnus‘wound’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvulnerō‘to wound’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEvulnerābilis‘injurious, wounding’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1925vulnerable

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*welanosreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvulnus‘wound’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEvulnerō‘to wound’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEvulnerābilis‘injurious, wounding’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1925vulnerable

Earliest quotation: 1925, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, New York: “In my younger and more vulnerable years my father…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *welh₃- ‘to hit’

pull, convulsive, convulsion, 21 more

through Late Latin vulnerābilis ‘injurious, wounding’

invulnerability, 1 more

Today it means

adj More or most likely to be exposed to the chance of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *welanos / vulnerable

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