Where does “counterintelligence” come from?
Counterintelligence comes from Old French contre and Old French intelligence, which derive from Latin contra and Latin intelligentia respectively, with intelligentia from Latin rota ultimately tracing to Proto-Indo-European Hróth₂-eh₂ through ret-.
counterintelligence (English): counterespionage
Definitions
- counterespionage
Ancestry of “counterintelligence”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | intelligence | Capacity of mind, especially to understand... |
| 2 | Middle English | intelligence | Comprehension, intelligence; the ability to understand |
| 3 | Old French | intelligence | comprehension; meaning; ability to comprehend |
| 4 | Latin | intelligentia | Alternative form of intellegentia |
| 5 | Latin | intelligēns | — |
| 6 | Latin | intellegō | to understand, comprehend, realize, come to know |
| 7 | Latin | legō | to collect, gather, bring together, catch |
| 8 | Latin | lēx | a proposition or motion for a law made to the people by a magistrate, a bill |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | lēg- | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | leǵ-s | — |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | leǵ- | to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning to... |