Where does “predate” come from?
Predate comes from Middle English date, Latin dare meaning "to give," and Ancient Greek δάκτυλος, with the prefix prae- meaning "before."
predate (English): To designate a date earlier than the actual one;...
Definitions
- To designate a date earlier than the actual one;...
Ancestry of “predate”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | date | The fruit of the date palm, "Phoenix... |
| 2 | Middle English | date | — |
| 3 | Old French | date | date |
| 4 | Latin | data | nominative feminine singular of datus; nominative... |
| 5 | Latin | datum | gift, present; accusative supine of dō;... |
| 6 | Latin | datus | given; offered; yielded |
| 7 | Latin | dāre | — |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | didō | give |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | dédeh₃ti | to be giving |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | deh₃- | to give |