Etymograph

English

accelerando

Accelerando comes from Italian accelerando ‘gerund of accelerare’, from Latin celer ‘fast, swift, quick, speedy, fleet’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kel- ‘to drive, particularly of animals’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kel-1‘to drive, particularly of animals’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEceler1‘fast, swift, quick, speedy, fleet’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcelerō1‘to quicken, accelerate’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaccelero2‘to quicken, hasten, speed up, accelerate’
  5. Italianc. 1300–presentaccelerando2‘gerund of accelerare’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2012accelerando2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin accelero
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English accelerando
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2012, George Steiner, The Poetry of Thought: “The accelerando of the sciences and of technology, their…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kel-Wiktionary, Latin accelero‘to drive, particularly of animals’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcelerWiktionary, Latin accelero‘fast, swift, quick, speedy, fleet’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcelerōWiktionary, Latin accelero‘to quicken, accelerate’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEacceleroWiktionary, English accelerando‘to quicken, hasten, speed up, accelerate’
  5. Italianc. 1300–presentaccelerandoWiktionary, English accelerando‘gerund of accelerare’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2012accelerandoWiktionary, English accelerando. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2012, George Steiner, The Poetry of Thought: “The accelerando of the sciences and of technology, their…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kel- ‘to drive, particularly of animals’

hold, halt, gallon, heel, hilt, hield, 5 more

Today it means

noun A tempo mark directing that a passage is to be played at an increasing speed.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “accelerando”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin accelero. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kel- / accelerando

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