Where does “necessary” come from?
Necessary comes from Middle English necessarye, from Old French necessaire, from Latin necessarius, formed from Latin ne and cedo meaning "not to yield" with the agent suffix -arius.
necessary (English): Required, essential, whether logically...
Definitions
- Required, essential, whether logically...
Ancestry of “necessary”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | necessarye | — |
| 2 | Old French | necessaire | — |
| 3 | Latin | necessārius | unavoidable, inevitable |
| 4 | Latin | necesse | unavoidable, "particularly" |
| 5 | Latin | cessus | conceded, given up, granted, surrendered,... |
| 6 | Latin | cēdō | to go, move, proceed, go along, move along |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | kedō | give here! |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | ke | here |
| 9 | Indo-European | *ḱe | — |