Where does “initiative” come from?

initiative (French) comes from Medieval Latin initiativus, from Late Latin initiare, from Latin initiāre, from Latin initium, from Latin inire, from Latin īre, from Proto-Italic eō, from Proto-Italic ejō — to go.

initiative (French): initiative

Definitions

initiative

Ancestry of “initiative”, step by step

initiative traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Medieval Latin initiativus

Step	Language	Word	Meaning
1	Medieval Latin	initiativus	serving to initiate
2	Late Latin	initiare	to begin
3	Latin	initiāre	—
4	Latin	initium	beginning, start; rites, mysteries
5	Latin	inire	present active infinitive of ineō; to go in,...
6	Latin	īre	—
7	Proto-Italic	eō	I go
8	Proto-Italic	ejō	—
9	Proto-Indo-European	h₁éyti	to go, to be going
10	Proto-Indo-European	h₁ey-	to go

via Latin initiō

Step	Language	Word	Meaning
1	Latin	initiō	to begin, originate
2	Latin	-ō	suffixed to nouns or adjectives. Originally a-stem nouns. Later extended to nouns with other stems. Forms regular first-conjugation verbs
3	Proto-Indo-European	-ō	Derives nouns from roots

Words derived from “initiative”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁ey- →Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁éyti →Every word from Proto-Italic ejō →