Where does “necessity” come from?
Necessity comes from Middle English necessite, from Old French necessite, from Latin necessitas, derived from the Latin suffix -tas added to necessitus, the past participle of cedo meaning "to yield," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ne and Proto-Italic ke.
necessity (English): The quality or state of being necessary,...
Definitions
- The quality or state of being necessary,...
Ancestry of “necessity”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | necessite | — |
| 2 | Old French | necessite | — |
| 3 | Latin | necessitās | necessity, need, unavoidableness, compulsion, exigency |
| 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 | — |