Where does “legitimize” come from?
Legitimize comes from English legitimate, derived from Middle English legitimat, from Medieval Latin legitimatus, the past participle of Latin legitimo meaning "to make lawful," from Latin legitimus meaning "lawful," ultimately from Latin lex meaning "law," traced to Proto-Indo-European roots expressing legal authority.
legitimize (English): To make legitimate
Definitions
- To make legitimate
Ancestry of “legitimize”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | -ize | Used to form verbs from nouns or adjectives |
| 2 | Middle English | -isen | -ise, -ize |
| 3 | Middle French | -iser | -ize |
| 4 | Latin | -izō | Used to form similative verbs from nouns and adjectives |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | -ίζω | Used to form verbs from nouns, adjectives and... |
| 6 | Proto-Hellenic | -íďďō | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -idyéti | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 10 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |