Where does “perpetually” come from?
Perpetually comes from Middle English perpetual plus -ly, from Latin perpetualis, from Latin peto with the suffix -alis, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots.
perpetually (English): Seeming to never end; endlessly; constantly
Definitions
- Seeming to never end; endlessly; constantly
Ancestry of “perpetually”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | perpetual | Lasting forever, or for an indefinitely long... |
| 2 | Old French | perpetuel | — |
| 3 | Latin | perpetualis | that holds everywhere, universal, general |
| 4 | Latin | perpetuus | perpetual, continuous, uninterrupted, constant,... |
| 5 | Latin | -uus | forms adjectives on verbal stems |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | *-wos | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -wós | Creates adjectives from verb stems |