Where does “absence” come from?
Absence comes from Middle English absence, from Old French absence, from Latin absentia (a being away), derived from absum (to be away), formed from ab (away from) and h₁ésmi (to be) in Proto-Indo-European.
absence (English): A state of being away or withdrawn from a place...
Definitions
- A state of being away or withdrawn from a place...
Ancestry of “absence”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | absence | Being away or elsewhere; absence; Nonattendance... |
| 2 | Old French | absence | — |
| 3 | Latin | absentia | absence |
| 4 | Latin | absēns | absent, missing, away, away from, distant, gone, gone away |
| 5 | Latin | absum | I am away, I am absent, I am distant |
| 6 | Latin | ab- | from, away, away from; off; at a distance |
| 7 | Latin | āb | from, away from, out of |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | *ab | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | apó | — |